What Can Blockchain Do For Data Privacy ?
The world is enlivened by the tremendous advances in technology with the likes of Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things leading the way forward. Here, let us try to understand how Blockchain can make Data Privacy more secure.
Data Privacy also called information privacy, is the aspect of information technology (IT) that deals with the ability an organization or individual has to determine what data in a computer system can be shared with third parties. The amount of data in our world is rapidly increasing. According to a recent report, it is estimated that 20% of the world’s data has been collected in the past couple of years. Facebook, the largest online social-network, collected 300 petabytes of personal data since its inception — a hundred times the amount the Library of Congress has collected in over 200 years. Today, data is constantly being collected and analyzed, leading to efficient research in innovation and economic growth. Companies and organizations use the data they collect to better understand the demographics of a particular region and sell the product advertisements accordingly. This personalised approach increases marketing efficiency and also aids in predicting future trends and more. Today, data is a valuable asset in our economy.
The recent increase in reported incidents of surveil-lance and security breaches compromising users’ privacy, calls intoquestion the current model, in which third-parties collect and con-trol massive amounts of personal data. Bitcoin has demonstratedin the financial space that trusted, auditable computing is possibleusing a decentralized network of peers accompanied by a publicledger.
The big worry in the big data era is that of Data Ownership — majority of web or mobile applications one downloads ask access to one’s private data. For convenience sake, we compromise our private data which then can be manipulated or sold to third party data collectors without our knowledge.
This leads to another major concern of Data Transparency and Data Security. Data collected by organizations, have access to the same at all times. Fraudulent practices of Data Tampering by corrupt employees can corrupt the original data. Corruption in systemic bodies enable data piracy by selling data to malicious organizations.
Personal data, and sensitive data in general, should not be trusted in the hands of third-parties, where they are susceptible to attacks and misuse. Instead, users should own and control their data without compromising security or by limiting companies’ and authorities’ ability to provide personalized services. This can be achieved by incorporating Blockchain in the existing data servers. Blockchain, an integrable technology, is already making its mark in Land Registry and Supply Chain Chain Management. Pilots are in progress for incorporating Blockchain in Electronic Health Record.
Blockchain Technology will strengthen the overall system eliminating major systemic hurdles. The core characteristics of blockchain technology, i.e; immutability and auditability will create a more transparent network.
Auxledger, the third generation blockchain enables cross-chain communication facilitating organisations to cross verify the authenticity of data collected. This in turn enhances the overall systemic security and integrity thereby eliminating fraudulent practices.
Moreover, the transaction speed of existing blockchain like ethereum is very slow and the cost depends on the market dynamics. Whereas,The self-regulating economic model of Auxledger proposes simple gas philosophy i.e. “no limitations, pay only for what you consume”, and doesn’t depend on the market dynamics. This increases the efficiency of data processing and also reduces the burden of high processing costs. Learn more about the auxledger platform here.
In addition, the blockchain recognizes the users as the owners of their personal data. Companies, in turn, can focus on utilizing data without being overly concerned about properly securing and compartmentalizing them.
Furthermore, with a decentralized platform, making legal and regulatory decisions about collecting, storing and sharing sensitive data should be simpler. Moreover, laws and regulations could be programmed into the blockchain itself, so that they are enforced automatically. In other situations, the ledger can act as legal evidence for accessing (or storing) data, since it is (computationally) tamper-proof.
There are several possible future extensions for blockchains that could harness them into a well-rounded solution for trusted computing problems in society.
