Article Type: Article

Consent is a cornerstone of trust between users and the systems with which they interact. For digital public infrastructure (DPI), implementing consent mechanisms that are both meaningful and informed is crucial to maintaining this trust and ensuring that users have access to and can control the use of their personal data. To better understand how this looks in practice, we use a technical lens to explore the different components – and considerations – needed to promote meaningful, informed consent within DPI. 

As more people globally connect to the internet, governments, communities, and private sector organizations have a tremendous opportunity to harness the power of digital to improve the quality of life for all

Every day, governments generate massive amounts of data, spanning everything from birth certificates to weather data. Effectively managing and sharing that data can deliver a wide range of benefits to governments, the private sector, academia, and — crucially — to people. To support these efforts, this expert comment outlines some of the foundational components – and attributes – that make up effective, trusted national data exchange systems.

Today, data exchange fuels many facets of daily life, enabling things like digital payments, public service delivery, and GPS navigation. But what are the different models that enable this flow of information? In this article, we outline four common models – integrated national data systems, data trusts, personal data stores, and decentralized networks – providing insights, considerations, and examples for each.

Without a robust framework for the good governance of digital platforms, the promise of digitization may be overshadowed by its unintended consequences. Our research seeks to establish how to best design, implement, and govern digital platforms in a way that ensures their benefits are maximized and their risks minimized.