You want my data? Trade me something for it.
…or at least cut me in on the profit
First, let’s talk about cookies… chewy, delicious, warm, and comforting. Who doesn’t love them?
👆Not those cookies.
userid=12345; expires=Wed, 31 Dec 2014 23:59:59 UTC; path=/; domain=josh.analyticsdemystified.com [1]
👆These cookies.
What is a cookie?
Cookies are small pieces of data that websites store on a user’s browser to remember their preferences or track their activity. When a user visits a website, the server sends a cookie to the browser, which then stores it on the user’s hard drive. [2]
Cookies come in 3 flavors:
- Session management: used to keep track of user activity and to make sure that a session remains active.
- Login info: used to remember a user’s login credentials, so they don’t have to login every time they visit a site.
- Personalization: used to remember a user’s preferences like language or theme. [3]
These can all be used to make your experience more smooth and personal, but they can also have a downside.
Cookies are essentially tracking your activity to create a profile of you so any ad that gets served to you has a better chance of making you buy something.
Aside from the profiling and website preference tracking, cookies can come from third-party domains such as advertisers — what you shop for, which sites you visit, and so on. Some cookies can be hidden and difficult to detect like flash cookies. This also presents a risk for users who want to safeguard their data.
I’m not saying all cookies are bad. As long as the user is aware of them, they can help create a more personal experience. My main issue is that all of this data should be mine to do with as I wish, not owned, sold, and distributed by the websites I visit.
What is a Token?
“A token is a simple software that encapsulates ownership.” — Blue Beams aka @punk6529
On the surface, tokens and cookies aren’t all that different. They both are little bits of software that encapsulate data. Think of them as a wrapper. Any data of value is wrapped up in this neat little package. The main difference is that a cookie doesn’t live on a public database where everyone can see how and when it has been bought or sold.
Cookies live on your local hard drive, but the profile data is also stored on private databases where the data can be sold to the highest bidder → the advertisers.
To be clear, I don’t have an issue with this either. This is a free market after all. I’m the one creating this data, and therefore should be given some, if not all, of the profits.
I would be interested to know who is buying my user data. This would mean that I could have a direct relationship with the advertiser or brand. If the advertiser wanted access to my data, they can buy it or trade me something for it [think rewards/loyalty platforms].
The current cookie format does not allow for this type of direct relationship, but a blockchain based token does. These tokens don’t involve an intermediary such as a browser, website, or social network. They’re inherently peer-to-peer. Now when a brand wants to access my data, they don’t have to pay the fee for Twitter’s API, they can pay me directly instead. Now that we’ve exchanged value, they have a potentially closer connection with me.
“Hey Nike, you know I like your shoes because you bought my user data. AMA!” (Ask Me Anything)
How would this work?
Instead of a cookie that updates all my user data, a smart contract could update metadata of a token that I control. Now that it’s in a format I verifiably own, I can trade that data on any blockchain marketplace like OpenSea.
At the moment, most people associate NFT’s with digital art and trade those on these marketplaces. In the future, I could see marketplaces that spring up just for user data, physical items, or in-game assets.
Web3 provides digital ownership over my assets by encapsulating this ownership in a simple piece of code. These tokens are portable and interoperable representations of literally anything that requires a certificate of ownership.
You want my data? Now you can trade me something for it. But I’ll dictate the terms.
