Indigenous data sovereignty

Abstract

• Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS) has emerged as an important topic over the last three years, raising fundamental questions about assumptions of ownership, representation, and control in open data communities. • IDS refers to the right of Indigenous peoples to control data from and about their communities and lands, articulating both individual and collective rights to data access and to privacy. • Ideas from IDS provide a challenge to dominant discourses in open data, questioning current approaches to data ownership, licensing, and use in ways that resonate beyond Indigenous contexts, drawing attention to the power and post-colonial dynamics within many data agendas. • Growing IDS networks are working to shape open data principles to better respect the rights of Indigenous peoples.