As the Fair Data Society says, we are workers in the data economy. Our personal data — basically the digital blueprint of our lives — is collected by the platforms we interact with, most of the time in a non-transparent way. At best, they are used to improve our user experience. In the worst case, our privacy is violated, monetized and even turned into a weapon against us..
It all started with the emergence and growth of the user-generated webas seemingly free social networks, search engines and companies saw a new opportunity to make a profit and turned to collecting, storing, analyzing and selling user data. By 2022, the data market had grown tremendously. According to Statista, in 2020 a total of 64.2 zettabytes of data had been created, consumed and put online worldwide. By 2025, this number is expected to exceed 180 zettabytes.
Speaking of the evolution of data sovereignty in a profit-driven climateProfessor Sabina Leonelli said:
“Individual agency in the data economy has shrunk, with few organizations mastering the conditions under which information can be shared and used, to the detriment of individual rights and collective action.”
In fact, More than three-quarters of the global search market is controlled by the Google search engine. Y over 3.6 billion individual users are on four Meta-owned social media platforms.
Road to data sovereignty
Large technology companies recognized the pressure and growing regulatory demand, so en 2018 the Data Transfer Project was born. Six partners—Google, Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, and SmugMug—committed to enable seamless data transfer between platforms through a common, open-source framework. Nevertheless, it was only the first step for users to claim their data.
In recent years, the demand for transparency, trust, security and decentralization has spread to multiple sectors of our lives: from finance to organization management and data storage. This is evident in the blockchain technologies and solutions, such as decentralized finance, decentralized autonomous organizations, and Web3, that aim to give users full control of their digital lives and protect the basic human right to data privacy.
So, What is data sovereignty and radical data ownership, and how can they be achieved?
In a nutshell, achieving data sovereignty means that the user takes full control of their data. You can finally know (and have a say) where it goes and for what purposes it can be used, while the data itself is not trapped in a single platform. Proponents of this concept aim to create a new, fair digital space in which information is used for social good and its value is distributed in line with Web3 and the Fair Data Principles, and there are a number of decentralized instruments that will help achieve this. .
Web3: My keys, my data
One of the main characteristics of Web3 that differentiates it from the web we know is the absence of centralized data repositories.. Decentralized stores provide us with a single source of truth: the same thing that blockchain does, only for private data and for big data.
The use of protocols and a decentralized data layer will allow encrypting and exchanging information in a peer-to-peer network system, while content-based addressing ensures that the data has not been tampered with.: When we download a chunk from a certain address, we know that data is correct because its hash matches the address.
Besides, there is no data sovereignty without data interoperability. Facing data monopolies, in which users are locked into proprietary interfaces, Web3 is based on the idea of using non-custodial solutions. By using keys, users will be able to access the same set of their private data from multiple platforms (also known as BYOD) and move them freely between storages and apps.
The registration process will also undergo changes. On the one hand, we use email addresses to create accounts, or link them to our Google and Facebook profiles. On Web3, email credentials will be replaced with wallet addresses. “Login with Ethereum”, funded by the Ethereum Foundation and likely to become a standard, is a good example of this. Although all interactions with the blockchain are available for public viewing, logging in with an anonymous wallet address will help preserve confidentiality.
In the meantime, content builders and creators will have access to new ways to monetize their content. The tokens, fungible and non-fungible, are the “likes” and “retweets” of the Web3. They can be used to reward quality content and share pieces of data, while ensuring the creator gets a fair share of royalties.
And finally, with regard to data control, introducing decentralized governance is another way to topple the monopoly power of big tech. Decentralized autonomous organizations have the potential to bring democracy and transparency to the decision-making process on the blockchain, as transactions are verified by consensus.
Bringing trust and privacy into the data economy
Achieving digital sovereignty means treating users as people, not as cogs in the data economy machine. To summarize the above, it can be achieved by building human-centric applications where data sovereignty and interoperability come first, incentivizing the development of new web infrastructure that supports encryption, data protection and ethical and transparent business models. Of course, basic digital literacy would also reduce the chances of Internet users inadvertently giving up their privacy.
As a final note, it would be important to underline that it is a collaborative effort—larger than a single individual or organization—and that the entire Web3 space should work together. In this way, we can begin to reclaim privacy for the individual and bring trust to the data economy at a societal level.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trading involve risk, and readers should do their own research when making a decision.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Gregor Zavcer has extensive experience in community building, brand identity, marketing, business development, blockchain technology, and decentralized economy. He got involved in the Ethereum community early on, which led him to create his own decentralized data management startup. Currently, Gregor leads the operations of Swarm, a decentralized communication and storage system for a sovereign digital society.
Keep reading:
Investments in crypto assets are not regulated. They may not be suitable for retail investors and the full amount invested may be lost. The services or products offered are not aimed at or accessible to investors in Spain.