A powerful and urgent call to action: to improve our lives and our
societies, we must demand open access to data for all.
Information is power, and the time is now for digital liberation.
Access Rules mounts a strong and hopeful argument for how
informational tools at present in the hands of a few could instead
become empowering machines for everyone. By forcing data-hoarding
companies to open access to their data, we can reinvigorate both our
economy and our society. Authors Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Thomas
Ramge contend that if we disrupt monopoly power and create a level
playing field, digital innovations can emerge to benefit us all.
Over the past 20 years, Big Tech has managed to centralize the most
relevant data on their servers, as data has become the most important
raw material for innovation. However, dominant oligopolists like
Facebook, Amazon, and Google, in contrast with their reputation as
digital pioneers, are actually slowing down innovation and progress by
withholding data for the benefit of their shareholders-at the expense of
customers, the economy, and society. As Access Rules compellingly
argues, ultimately it is up to us to force information giants, wherever
they are located, to open their treasure troves of data to others. In
order for us to limit global warming, contain a virus like COVID-19, or
successfully fight poverty, everyone--including citizens and scientists,
start-ups and established companies, as well as the public sector and
NGOs--must have access to data. When everyone has access to the
informational riches of the data age, the nature of digital power will
change. Information technology will find its way back to its original
purpose: empowering all of us to use information so we can thrive as
individuals and as societies.
