Big Data is watching you: How the blockchain stores and uses your data
Think about all the times that you have pressed “I agree” on a website’s terms and conditions without even scanning over the words. You may take that slight second to reconsider whether it is ok that you’re giving your consent to something you don’t really know, but at the end of the day, you don’t want to waste 10 minutes of reading time. And well if everyone is doing it, then it can’t be so bad — right?
Wrong! It can.
Data has become almost as important as cash. Due to the internet, smartphones and virtual assistants like Alexa, nearly every one of your activities is digitally traced, leaving companies with ubiquitous amounts of data to improve their products and sell them back to you. The saying ‘cash is king’, might as well be ‘data is king’. But due to this, it also means that big data is driving a lot of business revenue and pushing organisations to constantly seek new ways to gather more data, often without consent. We do not have to be reminded of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which they acquired and used personal data from approximately 87 million Facebook users, the majority of whom had not explicitly given permission to access their information. The fine of this mishap is also estimated to amount to $1.6 billion. Organisations now have to treat data as carefully as cash, since the penalties of losing data or mistreating it are almost synonymous.
But Keybox wants to do things differently. We don’t want to misuse your data and in fact, we don’t even want to own your data at all. Although the Keybox app collects data on its customers, Keybox will only store information which is necessary to facilitate users’ activity on the platform. Therefore, the only information that Keybox stores is the anonymised source, destination, timestamp and the amount of the transaction. These are the only pieces of data we need to keep the ledgers tied up with. Any other information, such as what device was used, whether the transaction was AML approved, etc., will be sent to a third party for review. Said third party will be a distributed anonymous organisation (DAO) run by smart contracts.
If for any reason, that third party picks up something suspicious, an official court order will be issued and the information will be revealed to the Swiss authorities. Indeed, the Swiss government have some of the best privacy laws in the world and generally speaking, don’t allow permission to organisations to reveal that data, unless there is clear evidence of criminal activity.
Especially when we consider the recent GDPR framework (General Data Protection Regulation), a set of of laws that aims to protect the personal data of EU citizens, organizations need to step up and take their responsibility as large data collection houses more seriously. Keybox recognises this and therefore has decided that the best way of dealing with customers’ data is to separate custodianship from transactions.
Keybox’s key value is trust, and we strongly believe that we should to be transparent and open with you how we use your data. We aim to become the leading online vault to store your digital keys, but at the same time, we also want to be one that acts with a conscience and purpose.
If you like my article, join the Keybox mailing list to get a quick round-up on the hot topics and article overview every two, three weeks. I promise they will be as much fun.
