Ellis believes that in the future, individuals will negotiate their privacy based on its value to them and to others. Purchase prices of everything from cars to mobile phones could be drastically reduced or removed altogether, if traded for the data they and their property generate.

“Our automobiles and transportation networks are becoming very sensorised… we're generating huge amounts of data that other people want to use and want to buy. Maybe we offset that value to the use of the vehicle or the use of the service, and so the construct really simply is – recognize that there's value in data.”

With a vision of the future that sees our privacy as a product we own, Ellis believes drivers and passengers will be able to choose when and where they switch their data off or on, depending on if they want privacy, or want to earn money from it.

“If we were to think of privacy as a product that an individual has the right to sell or not to sell, and that the laws that exist today have to respect it or companies have to respect it. That might be a far richer conversation on how we ultimately handle the issue of privacy.”

With the value of data established and ownership clearly defined, Ellis sees an open data market in the future, where data generated by consumers can be bought and sold.

“There is value behind who you are and the data that's generated about you. Because at the end of the day I may be OK selling my data – I just need to be offered the opportunity to do it. You have to figure out that it has value and you have to stop calling it ‘free’.”

Ellis believes there is value in all the data we produce as users and consumers. Looking at car travel specifically, hundreds of sensors are capable of generating data on current weather, driving and traffic conditions, or within the car how many passengers are travelling, what entertainment they’re listening to or advertising they hear.

“The latest vehicles have over 150 sensors. We have sensors that look at what happens if the car's going over some vibrations, so we can determine road quality. Other sensors have cameras and distance readers and so with your permission, turn the cameras on to understand why you're not travelling at the speed that you should be – is it because there's lots of cars around, is it because there's construction?”