Adam Dalliance on Nostr: "Data is the new oil" is a thing people used to say. You might think that means that ...

"Data is the new oil" is a thing people used to say.

You might think that means that it's toxic for human well being, dangerous to hold in any quantity, and absolutely disastrous when there's a leak.

And you'd be right.

But the people saying it don't generally think that, they think of it as meaning data is valuable like money.

A terrible mistake, which leads people and companies hoard the data instead of trying to quickly and safely dispose of it to avoid responsibility for it like they really would if they understood the metaphor.

And thus there are leaks and toxic data spilling all the way through the network.

Perhaps there should be a data-tax. A cost per year for every terabyte companies hold? Use it to fund journalism and the arts.