Clean Data Alliance launches to promote human controlled data economy

Clean Data Alliance (CDA) announced its launch as an apolitical 501(c)(6) nonprofit dedicated to creating a digital economy built on Clean Data produced through Data Agency. CDA’s mission is to shift the world from an exploitive data system where personal information is captured without consent and used against people’s interest, to one where Humans share data willingly and benefit from doing so.

“Clean Data Alliance exists to replace exploitation with collaboration,” said a CDA spokesperson. “When we have Data Agency, we control, share, and profit from our own data. That’s how Clean Data is created and how we can restore trust in our data-driven digital world.”

What Is Clean Data?

Clean Data is information that is:

Collected with permission (zero-party, consent-based)

Anonymous (no personal identifiers)

Longitudinal (updated over time by the Human source)

Verified (confirmed to represent a real Human)

By contrast, Dirty Data is inaccurate, coerced, or personally identifiable—carrying legal risk and producing unreliable insights.

Why CDA Matters

The current digital data paradigm is broken. IBM estimates $3.1 trillion in annual U.S. productivity loss due to fragmented, inaccurate data. Roughly 50% of digital ad spend supports fraud, while brand trust continues to erode as people feel constantly surveilled.

CDA argues that without reform, emerging systems like so-called Artificial Intelligence, which the Alliance calls Artificial Inferring, will only amplify these problems.

“These systems don’t think; they infer,” the Alliance said. “Language matters. Calling them ‘intelligent’ makes Humans feel inferior and more likely to surrender our agency to machines.”

Mission and Vision

CDA’s mission is to shift the digital economy from one built on exploitation to one built on collaboration, where Humans control their data and share it on their terms.

People own their data and can grant or revoke access to it at any time.

Institutions use data ethically, rebuilding trust and reducing legal risk.

Truth and democracy are strengthened, not weakened, by technology.