They call data the oil of the 21st century. Without it, the digital economy as we know it would grind to a halt. And just like oil, unrefined data is pretty useless - it’s what you do with the data that makes it valuable.

What is done with data, and who has power over it, is what preoccupies Jessica Pidoux, director of the NGO PersonalData.IO and a lecturer in the sociology of data at SciencesPo university in Paris.

Pidoux has studied the algorithms of match-dating apps like Tinder, finding they re-produce sexist and patriarchal practices. And she has also applied her data techniques to the gig economy, working, along with her colleagues at Hestia Labs, with an Uber driver in Geneva, Switzerland, to analyse his data at work and understand what information the platforms are keeping to themselves, as we wrote about on the Gig Economy Project (GEP) earlier this week.

Speaking at an event in the European Parliament in September on alternatives to Uberisation, Pidoux said: “Workers can take back this data power.”

In this podcast, GEP speaks to Pidoux to find out more about her critique of data power in the platform economy, what she thinks the alternative is and how she is helping workers build their data power. We discuss:

01:02: Why does data matter and what’s the problem with the status quo?

03:33: The case of Cabify and the Catalan Minister of Transport

07:03: What’s the alternative to a platform-dominated data economy?

09:24: An Uber driver in Geneva’s pursuit of his data

19:20: The Rider’s Law and trade unions accessing the data

22:30: Pidoux’s academic work and Tinder investigation

28:35: How PersonalData.Io can help you access your data