DataPal and the ‘F’ Word
Why Fiduciary Matters in the Age of Data and AI
No, not that one…
The ‘F word’ we’ll be using a lot at DataPal this year is fiduciary. Because it goes to the heart of what makes our model fundamentally different from most digital services today.
At its core, fiduciary comes from the Latin fiducia—trust. It describes a relationship in which one party is legally and ethically bound to act in the best interests of another.
Doctors, lawyers and financial advisers operate this way. They are required to put their client first, even when doing so is inconvenient or commercially unattractive.
At DataPal, we believe that personal data has now become complex, valuable and consequential enough that individuals deserve the same kind of professional, fiduciary support.
When someone signs up to DataPal, they are not joining another “platform”. They are appointing a personal data agent that is contractually and technically designed to work for them.
When Data Became Too Complex to Manage Alone
Each of us now has hundreds of digital relationships.
Banks. Retailers. Employers. Governments. Healthcare providers. Apps. Games. Media platforms. Utilities. Subscription services.
Each relationship generates data. Each has its own policies. Each changes its terms. Each connects to others. Increasingly, each feeds AI systems.
No individual can realistically track, understand and manage all of this alone.
Yet today’s digital economy still expects people to do exactly that—by clicking “I agree”, managing scattered privacy dashboards, and hoping for the best.
We believe that model is broken.
Just as society professionalised medicine, law and finance when they became too complex to manage individually, personal data now requires professional stewardship.
“Who Do You Work For?”
A useful parallel can be found in financial services.
In 2012, the UK’s Retail Distribution Review forced financial advisers to answer a simple but uncomfortable question:
“Who do you actually work for—the client, or the product provider?”
Before RDR, advisers were often paid through hidden commissions. After RDR, they had to be paid transparently by their clients. Conflicts of interest were removed. Professional standards were raised. Trust was rebuilt.
DataPal applies the same principle to personal data.
We are clear about who we work for.
We work for the individual.
We are not paid to extract, profile, trade or monetise personal data on behalf of third parties. We are paid to help people understand, manage and use their own data safely and effectively.
From Promises to Enforceable Trust
Many digital services claim to “put users first”.
Few are structurally designed to do so.
At DataPal, fiduciary responsibility is not a marketing message. It is embedded in our legal frameworks, commercial model and technical architecture.
Through MyTerms and related open standards, individual permissions, policies and intent are:
Machine-readable
Auditable
Enforceable
Portable
This means trust is not based on goodwill alone. It is built into the system.
What You Can Expect From DataPal as a Personal Data Fiduciary
Acting as a personal fiduciary agent carries real obligations.
In practice, this means DataPal commits to:
Acting Exclusively in Your Interest: Your data is managed according to your preferences, permissions and objectives—not ours and not anyone else’s.
Transparent Commercial Alignment: We avoid conflicts of interest. We do not profit from selling or exploiting personal data.
Standards-Based Governance: Your agreements and consents are governed by open, interoperable standards.
Secure Data Stewardship: Your records, credentials and proofs are protected using enterprise-grade security.
Personal Data Intelligence (MyD+): We help turn raw records into insight, evidence and value for individuals.
Controlled Data Sharing: You decide what is shared, for what purpose, and for how long—with the ability to revoke access.
Independent Accountability: Our membership of the GliaNet Alliance reflects our commitment to external scrutiny and fiduciary principles.
In short, we provide individuals with the same level of professional support in managing data that they already expect in managing health, wealth and legal affairs.
Personal Data Logistics: Making Control Practical
We sometimes describe our role as personal data logistics.
By this, we mean the secure and intelligent coordination of:
Collecting data from multiple sources
Verifying records
Storing them safely
Applying permissions
Routing data to approved services
Enabling revocation and expiry
Maintaining full audit trails
Most people today have thousands of invisible data flows.
DataPal provides the infrastructure, automation and intelligence that makes this manageable.
A New Layer of Digital Trust
For decades, the digital economy has been built around platforms acting as intermediaries for personal data.
Individuals generate the data.
Platforms control it.
Value is extracted elsewhere.
This model is now under strain—from regulation, from AI, from public distrust, and from growing complexity.
We believe the next phase of the internet requires a new layer:
Personal data infrastructure that works for individuals first.
Personal fiduciary agents are not a niche idea. They are a necessary evolution.
DataPal is building that future—combining legal principles, open standards, secure technology and AI-driven services to give people practical control over their digital lives.
Not by asking people to “trust us”.
But by designing systems that make trust enforceable.
That is what fiduciary means to us.
And that is what DataPal exists to deliver.
