This is the moment
Digital markets are undergoing dynamic structural change in how personal data relationships are managed, governed, and trusted.
While the Internet and the Web promised a networked economy based on full personal agency, today we find ourselves trapped inside corporate silos while organisations of all kinds face rising compliance costs, minimized trust, and constant pressure to prove responsible data use—all complicated by the wild promises and perils of AI.
MyTerms: Standard for Machine Readable Personal Privacy Terms (IEEE 7012) launched in January 2026 as a new infrastructure layer to repair trust and strengthen interactions between people and organisations handling personal data. Published after nine years of work in the IEEE (initiated by Customer Commons), MyTerms is finally a global standard for personal privacy agreements that allows individuals to set and express their data-sharing preferences through digital agents. This standard will help define how people engage with the Internet across the coming decades and finally make true what The Cluetrain Manifesto promised in 1999.
What MyTerms does
MyTerms enables programmable data relationships between individuals and organisations. Individuals can offer their own privacy terms, through personal agents (which might range from a browser plugin to a personal AI agent), and have those terms agreed to by websites and services, at scale.
Terms are chosen from a public roster at a disinterested nonprofit such as Customer Commons,
Think of it as Creative Commons licenses for data sharing agreements, with people in the driver’s seat. In practice:
- Data handling organisations signal readiness through certification and trust marks
- Individuals select their preferred terms via personal agents
- Shared agreement frameworks are registered and monitored to enable predictable, interoperable data relationships
Making it real
Standards do not create markets on their own. Without coordinated implementation, ecosystems fragment, trust signals weaken, and early user experiences degrade adoption.
To set the stage for the scaled adoption of MyTerms by individuals and organisations, we are building out the following six workstreams.
- Implementation
Build shared, working examples of the standard through apps, browser extensions, and OS integrations. Pursue multiple proofs of concepts that face individual consumers, as well as businesses and organisations. - Terms Infrastructure
Define the full life cycle of the terms, including how they are hosted, configured, and enforced. What registries and formal bodies are necessary to align market actors? What are the viable options for enforcement/dispute? - Trustmark, monitoring and dispute
How can a Trustmark be leveraged to align market signals and expectations? How should it be monitored, and what financial model is most appropriate and sustainable? How should breaches of agreements and use of the Trust Mark be disputed and resolved? - Industry engagement (IEEE Industry Connections Program)
The IEE IC platform is being leveraged to engage the industry for the identification of relevant best practices and to instantiate a certification and training program for the standard. This may also involve white papers or other activities. - Marketing (Use Cases & Adoption)
To create demand and market expectations, we need to promote MyTerms through writing, blogs, videography, social media, focusing on real-life use cases while advocating for the vision. - Policy & Governance
How should the MyTerms community work with legislators and policymakers to move MyTerms forward legislatively?
We’re convening a broad group of experts, enthusiasts and volunteers to elaborate what this means in practice. We look forward to your contributions at VRM Day 2026!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vrm-day-2026a-tickets-1982897543932?aff=oddtdtcreato
