Only the Brave
Data ownership, new browsers and banishing the cookies.
Listen carefully. Can you hear the steady pursuit of those Louis Vuitton heals? Is that armed drone bot hunting you down no matter where you hide? Enough is enough! It’s time for you to escape the pursuit, flee the bombardment of prompt marketing, and find a place with no need-less noise. After all, you only clicked on it the first time in a moment of weakness, you have done nothing to encourage this daily harassment. Join the revolution!
“Freedom! Justice! Truth! Reasonably priced love! And a hard boiled egg!” - Sir Terry Pratchett, The People’s Republic of Treacle Mine Road
The hard boiled egg, counter-intuitively, highlights the sharp edge of every revolution. It’s all very well to paint banners demanding truth and justice, but, when the night is over, and the sun rises over the barricade, it’s unlikely that there will be a whole lot of either. What you might just get is a hard boiled egg. Maybe it’ll even come with toast.
So in the case of online data privacy, what can you reasonably expect? You want Facebook to remember your password, you want one-touch PayPal, and you want to be able to use Google for free. How can you insist on security when lethargy governs your on-demand desires, and the freemium economy forces brands to rely on advertising revenue?
The answer: Take ownership of your data
Yes, you want to be able to browse for free, but you don’t necessarily want your browser to remember every advert you’ve ever clicked on, and regurgitate the content back to you. That fancy dress party was months ago, and every zombie Ronald McDonald costume you see reminds you of the amount of screaming a 6 year old can really produce.
So choose a browser that puts you back in control. Blockchain is one possible answer, promising to give you back ownership of your data. No more cookies gathering information for free, no more side bar ads, and no more flashing banners.
Where can such freedom be found?
I’m hoping to see a number of contenders in the space, but right now Brave.com is a great example:
It operates by eliminating ads and trackers, speeding up your browsing and keeping the experience uninterrupted. But how does it work? It certainly isn’t altruism, though it’s absolutely free to use, and doesn’t rely on ad revenue. They are changing the model by introducing a new cryptocurrency, Basic Attention Tokens (BAT).
BAT enables brands to pay consumers to engage with their advertising in tokens held in crypto wallets. If you want to engage and sell your data to brands you can, and if you want to keep it slick, that’s fine too. As ever, it’s the choice that counts.
Do you know of a competitive offer? Or think crypto currencies won’t be adopted widely enough? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment or get in touch with me @ Adeptiv UK.
