Difference between revisions of "Fiduciary"

Latest revision as of 14:50, 15 August 2025

Full Title or Meme

A Fiduciary is someone who manages money or other property for someone else. When you're named a fiduciary and accept the role, you must – by law – manage the person's property for their benefit, not yours.

Duties

The five fiduciary duties are:

1. Duty of loyalty: Fiduciaries must act in good faith and put the interests of the business or corporation first, above their own personal interests.
2. Duty of Care: Fiduciaries accept legal responsibility for the care they provide.
3. Duty of confidentiality: Fiduciaries must keep confidential any information that could weaken the principal's bargaining position.
4. Duty of good faith: Fiduciaries must act with honesty, good faith, and fairness when handling corporate obligations.
5. Duty of obedience: Fiduciaries must carry out the organization's mission.

Context - Data

Operating under the assumption that people now own or will acquire ownership of data about themselves then it should be a natural extension to image that data fiduciaries might operate on the owner's behalf like ASCAP works on behalf of composers and publishers.

• Key Points from Journal on International Law article by Delarox and Lawrence^[1]

1. The current lack of legal mechanisms that may plausibly empower us, data subjects to ‘take the reins’ of our personal data leaves us vulnerable. Recent regulatory endeavors to curb contractual freedom acknowledge this vulnerability but cannot, by themselves, remedy it—nor can data ownership. The latter is both unlikely and inadequate as an answer to the problems at stake.
2. We argue that the power that stems from aggregated data should be returned to individuals through the legal mechanism of Trusts.
3. Bound by a fiduciary obligation of undivided loyalty, the data trustees would exercise the data rights conferred by the GDPR (or other top-down regulation) on behalf of the Trust’s beneficiaries. The data trustees would hence be placed in a position where they can negotiate data use in conformity with the Trust’s terms, thus introducing an independent intermediary between data subjects and data collectors.
4. Unlike the current ‘one size fits all’ approach to data governance, there should be a plurality of Trusts, allowing data subjects to choose a Trust that reflects their aspirations, and to switch Trusts when needed. Data Trusts may arise out of publicly or privately funded initiatives.
5. By potentially facilitating access to ‘pre-authorized’, aggregated data (consent would be negotiated on a collective basis), our data Trust proposal may remove key obstacles to the realization of the potential underlying large datasets.

Solutions

• 2025-07-18 Designing the AI Agent Ecosystem for Trust: The Rise of the Net Fiduciary Data Sapien

Internet fiduciary

protecting your digital interests

The concept of an "internet fiduciary" (sometimes called an "information fiduciary" or "data fiduciary") arises from the growing digital dependence in a world of surveillance capitalism. It is meant to address the imbalance of power between individuals and online companies that collect, analyze, and monetize personal data. In essence, an internet fiduciary is an online company or service that would be legally bound to act in the best interests of its users regarding the handling of their data. This concept draws parallels to traditional fiduciary relationships, like those between a doctor and patient, or a lawyer and client, where the professional has duties of care, confidentiality, and loyalty to the individual they serve.

• Key aspects and potential implications

1. Duty of loyalty: The fiduciary must prioritize the user's best interests over its own when handling their data. This would prohibit the company from engaging in practices that exploit or manipulate users based on their data for profit.
2. Duty of care: The fiduciary must act competently and diligently to protect the user's data from harm, including implementing strong security measures and preventing unauthorized use or disclosure.
3. Duty of confidentiality: The fiduciary must maintain the privacy and confidentiality of user data and not disclose it for personal gain or unauthorized purposes.
4. Duty of disclosure: This involves being transparent about data collection, usage, and any potential conflicts of interest, as well as promptly notifying users in case of security or privacy breaches.

Potential for legal recourse: If an internet fiduciary breaches its duties, users could potentially have legal recourse, including the ability to sue the company for damages. Addressing the challenges of digital asset management In a separate context, the term "digital fiduciary" also applies to individuals designated to manage a person's online accounts and digital assets after their death or incapacitation, according to Super Lawyers. The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) is a model law that provides a framework for fiduciaries (like executors or attorneys-in-fact) to access and manage digital assets, says Nolo. Important Note: The concept of "internet fiduciary" as applied to regulating online companies is still developing in legal discussions and may evolve over time.

Reference

1. ↑ Delarox and Lawrence, Bottom-up data Trusts: disturbing the ‘one size fits all’ approach to data governance 2019-10-01 https://academic.oup.com/idpl/article/9/4/236/5579842