In today’s digital age we give away our personal data without too much thought in exchange for services.
Yet since the Facebook controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of people’s personal data, we are now beginning to question where exactly that valuable information is going. The likes of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) have taken steps to give consumers back control of their data. However, while these are small steps in the right direction, can more be done in a decentralised manner that enables us to manage our own data effectively, particularly as the Internet of Things (IoT) market continues to grow?
For one Swiss-based company, they believe they have the answer in how a person’s data is managed. Located in the Crypto Valley of Zug, Streamr[1], a blockchain-backed data platform, is creating an open-source network for the free and fair exchange of the world’s real-time data.
Last month, the company became the first blockchain project to win the Plug and Play Global Innovation Award for Performance from Europe’s biggest innovation platform STARTUP AUTOBAHN, for their pilot project with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which was established to drive data monetisation.
Streamr has since joined MOBI, the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative ecosystem, along with BMW, BOSCH, General Motors, Ford, and Renault to make mobility services more efficient, affordable, greener, safer, and less congested. Other companies Streamr has partnered with include Nokia and OSIsoft, an application software for real-time data management.
Speaking to CoinJournal, Shiv Malik, head of communications and strategy at Streamr, said that it’s important to “regain control over our data” and “to recognise the inherent value of this information that has for too long been ignored.”
“It is high time that we get the chance to control how our data
