As my colleague Lawrence notes in his latest blog, the potential abuse of personal data shared by users in social networking spaces is of increasing concern. But key to the discussion is the potential value that such shared data might create for the owners of that data.

Amongst the discussions at our Government 2.0 meeting at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government was a debate over the merits of data sharing, and whether the collection of citizen data in the name of public safety and service delivery outweighed the risks of abuse and the potential for infringement of personal freedoms and privacy.

To kickstart the discussion, one of our colleagues shared this video from the American Civil Liberties Union that highlights a perhaps perverse or perhaps not-so-perverse future:

And while we’re probably a ways off from having our local pizza place advising on health care, the question remains as to how much of our personal data we’re willing to share in order to ensure public safety and perhaps enable better, i.e. more customized, service delivery.

And how does that equation change as the facilitator of that data use alternates between a private sector provider and a government agency? Do we trust government agencies more or less with our data? Why?