GDPR and the new old economy
GDPR this, GDPR that. I don’t like if it is raining, if it is too hot, if it is too shiny, blah, blah. As an European citizen I fully support GDPR.
It is not perfect, it is not complete. It is a WAKE UP! call to all of us pressing those “Subscribe” buttons without considering the consequences and taking a look at general terms & conditions or privacy & cookie policy.
How could we consider saying no at all. Tools we are using to be up to date with our friends and in touch with our family have all been built with the same reason, to get data from us. Starting with our “smart” phones.
The biggest problem about collecting data is not the collection itself, but the potential misuse of this data. That’s why people are getting freaked out, thinking to go back to stone age. Abandoning all of the electronics. But this way you put yourself out of society.
Collecting personal data and connecting it with real names and surnames, is the fundamental mistake of this economy. Why can’t you just gather anonymous data and use it. So take my data, connect them to my sex, age and weight and use them. But not to my name and surname.
Now it’s too late. Too many services have been compromised and I feel sorry for those who are collecting only “anonymous” data.
I do understand we can enjoy all those “free” services because providers of the services sell our data. But don’t sell my name, surname and username with it. It is the same as a promise: “Just sign this, even though it says different on the paper, we will make sure what is written on the paper will not happen.
Ok, so I trust you, the one I am signing with. But what if somebody else gets hands on those papers and uses them as it is written? Misuses the data, as it is stored centrally, connected with my name and surname.
How can you misuse those data you would ask? Maybe to make a special list of “weird” citizens to monitor or deny them voting rights. Misuse is nothing new, happens all the time in all levels of our lives.
So I completely support the EU taking this step forward and making problems to all of the companies we work for every day, doing our jobs. But actually, it did not make problems, just cleaned their mailing lists of people which anyway have been deleting their emails as they arrived. I see it only as a reality check.
I denied the right of spamming to about 90% of services I signed up for. And now I keep track of each one of them. The ones I denied and the ones I agreed to use in the future.
But there is no fear, entrepreneurs will rise up again and figure out the new way. The way that doesn’t include brutal force. Inviting people by providing quality content consistently, providing them content they want to consume and awarding them. That’s how you build brand, right. Not based on lies, right?
So the old data gathering and reselling economy is slowly being transformed into true anonymous data sharing economy. Regular people like you and me are being included into the “money” part as well. We are being rewarded for cooperation, being respected and being appreciated more.
So we can be happy for the distributed and free blockchain ecosystem. Finally technology enables instant compensation, instant data recording and public availability of this data without the danger of being compromised.
There are many amazing projects being developed at the moment and let me point out some of them. Themselves or projects similar to them will eventually enable true anonymous data sharing economy.
FIRST MISSING GDPR COMPONENT — DATA SECURITY
Datafund — a protocol that guards personal data, provides safe storage and enables ethical data exchange. Individuals create their own Datafund to reclaim, own and manage their data. So I decide whom I will provide the data, have a central repository (a list) of permissions granted, so I can control them at any time.
and some other…
SECOND MISSING GDPR COMPONENT — DATA ECONOMY
IRYO Network — patients can now choose how they interact with their medical history: share medical histories with hospitals, specialists, and researchers; selectively reveal relevant parts of a medical record with a predefined time limit; acquire tokens offered by research institutions for the collection of anonymous health data etc.
Futourist — a new way to consume, create, share and monetize your experience as a tourist. It is the first block-chain based review platform that rewards you for your content. You create reviews, share and get paid.
Emmares — in return for evaluating the content that they receive from various email marketers, the recipients get tokens from the rewards pool of an email marketer whose content was evaluated.
BEAT — allows you to recognize the hidden value of your health and fitness data. Get rewarded for working out. After you’re done, you’ll be rewarded with BEAT tokens proportional to the exercise you do.
Iungo — provides internet access through a distributed global network build upon a swarm of Wi-Fi hotspots. Your own Wi-Fi is a hotstop in Iungo network. Start earing from connection fees on the network.
and many more…
THIRD BUT NOT LEAST MISSING GDPR COMPONENT — DECENTRALIZATION
we know the technology that can provide this one …
SO WHAT IS NEXT STEP FOR GDPR? User accounts. Do we actually know where we created them? How are they being used, misused and their data sold to third parties? Have we closed them or have they been only “frozen” for sales benefits?
Miha
