Power to the People
- null
- Apr 14, 2018
- 2 min read
One of the new age advantages that have launched the rise of mega companies such as Google and Amazon is access to data and then making sense of it to provide targeted services and products. This is no big secret however this has caused a major problem to an individuals rights to privacy. Indeed, governments have spent millions defining regulations, act and implementing laws designed to protect its citizens.
This is an imperfect solution to the problem though because there is no ability to enforce these protection mechanisms. Sure there are deterrents but to quote a lyric from a song - "Everything is legal as long as you don't get caught". Technology and innovation is a wonderful thing though and I believe may hold the solution to this problem in the form of one of the newer buzzwords, bah Bah BAH....blockchain.
McKinsey has a fascinating article how the public sector could improve data management through an electronic, unhackable ledger system. This would put personal data into the hands of the individual and through tools such as smart contracts, people would be able to control when their data is accessed and by who. Let's walk through a scenario the requires a quick assumption, the infrastructure is available and you have setup your own personal block chain ledger.
You wake up in the morning and are feeling under the weather, so you head down to the local doctors office. When you speak to the doctor, the first thing they do is send you a request to access your health records in your blockchain. Your phone vibrates and you get a message asking if you would like to allow the doctor access to your information. You swipe yes on your phone and the doctor is now able to review your prior information.
The result of the visit is a prescription for antibiotics and your phone again notifies your that the doctor would like to add a new record to your personal blockchain. You agree and head down to the local pharmacy.
Once at the local pharmacy, your phone vibrates asking you to grant permission to the pharmacist to view your data to get the prescription and see if you have any allergies. You swipe yes again and shortly later you are on your way home.
Later that night, you receive a final notification on your phone asking you if you would fill our a short survey from the pharmacy regarding their customer service. Surveys aren't your thing, so you swipe no and head to bed, feeling safe that your data is secure and fully under your control.
100% available, decentralized, fully encrypted data completely under the control of the citizen, with government regulations to ensure private company smart contracts are not abused. Game changer!! Now, who is going to step up and make it happen?
Comments