[The Editors' Verdict] How Much Is Your Data Worth?

The fact that a year passes by quickly is also felt through reminders to renew car insurance premiums. A few days ago, I set up my insurance at the same level as previous years. I took advantage of various discounts such as safe driving score discounts, discounts for vehicles equipped with black boxes, and email invoice discounts. While trying hard to save even a penny, a new discount item caught my eye: "Walk more, get a discount, step count discount special contract!".

As soon as I saw it, the thought "Why would a car insurance company give a discount based on step count?" popped up reflexively. But then I realized, "Ah, this is the price of my personal data."

Insurance companies can predict a driver's risk based on the hypothesis that "people who exercise regularly tend to drive more safely." People who walk frequently or intend to walk often have a strong desire to be healthy. Naturally, they have a strong risk-avoidance tendency. Therefore, they are more likely to have a lower chance of traffic accidents. Knowing this, insurance companies gain a competitive advantage over rivals in calculating appropriate insurance premiums in the future. Also, the step data collected by the insurance company becomes the foundation for cross-selling health insurance or life insurance products. They can recommend various services and products based on everyday health indicators like step counts.

As the AI revolution based on data progresses, voices calling for personal information protection are also growing louder. Photo by Getty Images Bank

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s words from an interview over ten years ago still hold true: "If a product is free on the internet, you are not the customer. You are the product."

As digital technology permeates deeply into daily life, all our actions are recorded. When, where, what, how, and how much we did something?all of this is stored somewhere on invisible servers. These records are called "data."

On New Year's Day, there was a Tesla 'Cybertruck' explosion incident in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, USA. This accident also sparked privacy concerns. Tesla vehicles are equipped with eight cameras. They form the core basis for autonomous driving by detecting surrounding terrain and objects. The footage recorded by the cameras also helped identify suspect information. On the other hand, this raised concerns that Tesla might be collecting excessive information. Nevertheless, because the data was crucial in tracking the culprit’s movements and contributed to the advancement of autonomous driving technology, the privacy controversy has somewhat subsided.

"Data is the new oil." This phrase has been circulating for quite some time and has now become the dominant perspective on data. Everyone is desperate to secure data. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology develops through more data, which in turn leads to better services. Under this dominant rationale, every individual action is treated as fuel for AI development.

The AI competition is happening not only at the corporate level but also at the national level. The flow of the AI revolution cannot be stopped. The importance of data will only increase in the future. However, just because "data is oil," it does not mean that personal information and records can be indiscriminately extracted. Data is not a passive record waiting to be extracted. It is specific private information and property. The practice of collecting data indiscriminately at low cost under vague expectations that it will be used for technological progress needs to be reconsidered.