I've alway felt we should be able to SELL (we are the creators after all, so shouln't we also be holding the copyright) our own data. Some kind of PDA like device should be able to negociate the price with the data collectors. For example, say my local supermarket wants to keep track of my shopping behavior, and hook up my credit card info with data on my purchases and my contact data so that they can send me targeted e-mail. Shouldn't I be able to negotiate a price in the form of some kind of discount. My data broker should be able to establish my data's current market value, and I would keep all that data myself. Imagine being able to go to the competition to see what THEY would offer. They can collect a lot of data, but knowing what I just did over at the competition is beyond their abilities.
Here's a beginning. The Data Calculator.
"This calculator allows you to determine what your data bits are worth on the open market so you can request proper compensation when it is asked from you. For instance, a typical cellular phone company will ask for your address, date of birth, phone number, Social Security number and driver's license to open a new account. Consult our data calculator and that will be $13.75 please! "
The SWIPE Toolkit