The management and oversight of how data is collected, stored, and used, ensuring it meets ethical, legal, and security standards. It focuses on accountability, data integrity, and privacy, especially important in protecting sensitive information.

Data governance is critical for ensuring that Black, Indigenous, and disability justice communities have control over their own data, but unresolved issues include the balance between state or corporate surveillance and community control, and how to enforce ethical data practices globally.

Effective governance of data requires a number of different information on (1) community demographics to help understand current social well-being of people in your community, (2) community perspectives to inform future vision planning, (3) territory and resources to help defend territories and engage with outside entities such as other governments and businesses, (4) kinship and genealogy to help connect with your people, and (5) revenues and financial projections to position community members to participate in the broader economy. The following are types of data that fall under each category: - Community demographics: age, gender, location, employment status, and education level - Community perspectives: goals, challenges, desires, fears, interests, and dreams - Territory and resources: boundaries, placenames, wildlife, ecology, lands, and waters - Kinship and genealogy: information on who people are, where they're located, and how they can be brought home - Revenues and financial projections: economic opportunities, and various industry data