ABSTRACT
The datus quo ceases to be an accurate portrayal of data given by subjects for a particular set of purposes, but a well-engineered fantasy of control in which humanity has final say over the purposes of data, including commercial markets as the only means to undercover or unleash the true power of data. A picture, like data manipulated to achieve a particular result, tells a story and establishes certain expectations. This chapter offers a vision of the hairy data analogy that brings us up to date with discourse on data sovereignty, that ideal in which a data subject controls in toto ‘their’ data. First, however, data is present genetically in hair. And hair, in turn, is a vehicle for object data, meaning hairy data, as a predicate for data tonsure, is never only a metaphorical flourish but a two-way understanding of how subjects relate to ‘their’ data. Like devotees, data subject's give of themselves for just about any social need.
