Your data is your data
How Prometeus would change the cynical world of data brokerage
Who is Mr Data Broker
Even if you haven’t heard of data brokers, they know you very well, in fact, more than what you can think of. They collect consumer data, enrich, cleanse and analyze it, then sell to brands, providing marketers details about whether you’re pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you drive. Now, data brokerage is a $200 billion booming market that keeps growing with a CAGR of 12%. But this specific world operates in the glooms with virtually no oversight. One of the biggest scandals to date involved a data broker that sold to advertisers contact data of rape victims, alcoholics, and erectile dysfunction sufferers. Such lists sold for $ 79 per 1,000 contacts. For the same price was selling a list of people with anorexia, substance abuse, and depression.
But generally, information broker sells data of people that fall into less piquant categories like “music lover,” “impulse buyer,” “fitness enthusiasts” or “new parents.” To collect data, brokers apply Cookies, web beacons and e-tags. Second way: brokers use free smartphone apps that you happily install on your phone ask for permission to access your address book or other folders. Other sources of data feeders for brokers are government records, publicly available information, including social media. The Department of Motor Vehicles sells information to data brokers. Brick-and-mortar stores do, too. 1400+ leading brands sell information from store loyalty cards. Also, banks share data although they are required to comply with the Consumer Privacy Policy.
There are 4000+ data broker companies worldwide. Few of them pay consumers for access to their personal data. This is a paradox, but many people basically don’t know data brokers exist. Сonsumers’ role in what happens to their personal data is both passive and unrewarded. But times are changing. As personal data increases in value, consumers are demanding a proportion of that value. According to analytics firm SAS, 69% of millennials consider their personal data as “bargaining chips” which can be leveraged to enhance their lives. And they are right.
Prometeus solution
Prometeus labs has a goal to return data ownership back to its real owners. Our team designed Prometeus network — a secure and decentralized ecosystem to solve real-world problems in data brokerage. It serves as a blockchain-infrastructure for gathering, validating, processing, enriching, and selling data.
In our decentralized system, all rules and provisions are described through the use of smart contracts in a transparent and readily understandable format. These systems are designated to strictly comply with the rules described in smart contracts and all of the system activities are readily trackable by the system participants.
Benefits for data owners
If you want to be a true incognito, you better throw away all your gadgets. In all other cases, you can get in on the profits from the usage of your data. Everybody can download his data from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc and upload it directly to the Prometeus network nodes through the validator. Data format is not limited. It can be medical records or even cargo declarations. This data will be encrypted by the private key. Only data buyer will get the second key. So nobody will be able to steal data. How much you would earn on selling data, you can read here.
In Prometeus, data owner always will see online who and when is buying his data as all transaction are recorded in the distributed ledger. These records cannot be rolled back or faked. Data owner is always able to delete his information or refuse to sell it.
Going forward, consumers who share personal data can expect deals tailored to their individual needs rather than being forced to choose from off-the-shelf “packages”. But it isn’t only about marketing and about money. Another example, having an active gym membership could land the user in a group with a lower risk of having a heart attack, and thus receive lower life insurance premiums. Similarly, consumers can get cheaper car-insurance offers, provided they consent to their driving style being tracked. Also, you can share your disease history and get more personalized treatment.
The benefit for data buyers that they can be sure that they get high-quality data and without breaking GDPR.
Be with us. Read about Prometeus network use-cases in our next articles.
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