What’s the problem with transacting anyway?

We do it everyday.

Buy items. Online.

Of course we have to provide some personal details. But this means that we are often effectively publishing that personal information.

The recipient company may give away our personal information. Or it may be sold, or stolen, or lost.

So the cost of the transaction could end up being yet more additional incoming unwanted email. Or it could end up being far higher. Identity theft in the worst case.

If that’s the problem, what’s the solution?

The solution is to introduce a smart contract between the purchaser and the service provider.

When access to the purchaser’s data is controlled by a smart contract, the risk of the data being incorrectly used, sold, stolen or lost is greatly reduced.

There are benefits for the service provider as well. The smart contract can ensure that the service provider is compliant with data protection regulations. And a smart contract can ensure that the data is up to date.

Julian is a co-founder of Datona Labs, a non-profit organisation exploring “Smart Data Access” on the datona.io platform.