What is the data really for?

A few days ago the Malta Tourism Authority announced that a ticketing system will be used for this year’s Isle of MTV concert that will be held at the Granaries in Floriana on 27 June.

The concert will remain free of charge, the MTA was quick to add, eliminating all possible speculation about any fees for the concert, now in its 12th edition. The reason that was given by the MTA for the ticketing system is, “to ensure a higher level of health and safety, ensuring that all present can enjoy the concert tranquilly”. People are being urged to register their names because, according to the MTA statement, no additional requests for tickets will be accepted.

In other words, there will be a limit to the number of people who can attend the concert, which in past years has always drawn thousands, particularly young people.

But suspicions have been raised as to the real reason why such a data will be collected and, most of all, whether this information will be later used for other purposes.

Let us remember that, next year, there will be an election for Malta’s six representatives at the European Parliament and, for the first time, 16-17 year-old youngsters will be allowed to vote. It is a known fact that the Isle of MTV concert attracts people mostly in this age group and those who are slightly older, and therefore the collection of such data will provide an enormous basket of information about Malta’s young generation.

Over the past months, if not years, there have been various allegations around the world that data was used for the wrong purposes. We have all heard about accusations that countries tried to influence the outcome of an election in other countries. And we all know that the power of the social media, as time goes by, continues to grow. Anyone with information about selected groups of people can target them specifically in campaigns.

Privacy issues have come to be questioned, and people have realised that any information they provide, no matter the privacy laws, could come back to haunt them. We can all probably vouch that we have received unsolicited advertising on our mobile phones, or on our social media accounts. If our mobile phone numbers can be picked up for random calls from some African country for scam attempts, then there is no doubt that our own private information is available somewhere.

And this is perhaps why suspicions were raised when the MTA announced a ticketing system, via which so much valuable information will be collected voluntarily from young people whose only real intention is to attend a concert – and yet can find themselves giving up the details for other purposes. The MTA would do well to make it clear that anyone submitting personal information to obtain a ticket for the Isle of MTV concert will not have this data used for other reasons, or distributed to third parties.