Since time immemorial, the seemly intrinsic value of information could never truly be ascertained. Throughout history- the civil war, world war, cold war, information was the x-factor that always separated the victor from the vanquished.
Even today, the importance of information cannot be overemphasized.
Truly, times are changing. The world of today has sporadically evolved from what it used to be several decades ago. Prior to the considerably significant boon of the social media industry, many relationships had been seemly done for, in lieu of geographical displacement.
Then facebook was created, and in all fairness it did a good job of reconnecting so many people, but in the process, users were gradually losing their privacy and control over their personal data. Its not only Facebook, the same could be said about the other giants such as Google's Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and co.
Unknown to many internet users, the bits of personal data that they have been supplying on the various platforms that they visit are being exploited by the said custodians , which explains the intrusive ads, newsletters and spam messages that all together makes browsing less desirable for users. It is ironical that despite being the actual source of the fast-growing data marketplace, the data owners themselves enjoy zero monetary benefit from it. Instead, there are perpetually losing control over their personal data. This is the quagmire that users have found themselves in, today.
Well, the compelling is an overview of the datum network, a project that is essentially based on the use of cutting-edge blockchain technology to solve the foregoing problem of data legislation and control in the marketplace.
What is Datum?
Datum is a decentralised novel project that is specifically interested in restoring the control of data to the rightful owners. Datum envisions an ecosystem wherewith individuals can store structured data on the blockchain (core), where it is literally kept under lock and key, released only when the individual owner permits at a fee of his choosing.
How does Datum network work?
The first phase of datum's network deployment on the main net is the datum app
Source: Whitepaper
This will serve as a litmus test, and is in fact the closest thing to what the main platform would look like.
With the datum app, users can remotely access their stored data, share it and at the same time get value for it.
To get started, users must first get the DAT tokens, and this can either be gotten from datum's organised crowd token sale or aftersale token purchase. With this in hand, users can securely store all personal data, thanks to the vast cloud storage support that BigchainDB and IPFS has availed for all users on datum's platform.
Datum's ecosystem is not complete without the data consumers, including research organisations, statisticians, advertisers and so on. These too must buy the DAT tokens before they can get the attention of any owner. In the event that an agreement is reached between between both parties, the owner is paid in DAT tokens and market scales from thence.
Data Control
Current system exploits the ignorance of many Internet frequenters, by releasing the individual personal data of users without their knowledge to data consumers. However, datum network will restore the full-control of data to individual users on the platform. By so doing, users can selectively pick who they trade their data to as well as fix checks or better still, give the conditions for disclosure.
Security
In stark contrast to existing platforms like Google's gmail and other corporations, datum adopts blockchain technology which is known for transparency, security as a result of decentralisation. When users initiate storage of data on the datum network, the data is stored on a node in an encrypted form, then redristrubuted amongst the interconnected blocks so as to avoid unwarranted access. This way, the only person that enjoys 24/7 access to this information is the data owner.
Use Case
Peter is a 21-year old computer science student. After 9 months of a hellish battle with cancer, he has finally made it through. He is a survivor.
Soon enough, Peter requests for an extradition of his 9-month old medical data, moving everything to datum network so that he can control who has access to it.
Few months down the line, a health-research organisation contacts him, professing their interest in his medical data. Peter agrees to release it for 100 DAT and he still has control of his data.
Conclusion
As earlier mentioned, data is reasonably one of most valuable assets of all time, in fact, we're fast entering a dispensation where it would be considered as the only true currency globally. It is therefore quintessential for some infrastructure be put in place that will help users reclaim full control of their respective data. From the foregoing, it is obvious that Datum is simply the best candidate.
Token Sale
MEET THE TEAM
ROADMAP
For more information and resources, do check out the following:
Datum Website
Datum Whitepaper
Datum Twitter
Author: michades97
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Twitter username: michades1997