A New Idea For A New Age
With the recent rise of the Brave browser in which a user is rewarded for sharing their data, the feeless transactions of the IOTA tangle and the startup concept of GeoDB, I can imagine a future where a user not only opts-in to sharing their data for reward, but potentially even goes as far as paying a premium for that privilege.
Brave
For those of you that are unaware, Brave is a major new contender in the browser market. Being led by Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla and creator of the widely used language of Javascript. The main draw for new users to the platform is the lack of invasive adverts, leading to faster browsing, by putting your data in your hands. Opt-in to sharing your data and get rewarded with BAT (a utility token that is earned for using the browser and can be exchanged on the trading market, for crypto or cash).
If for some reason you're not yet using Brave, please feel free to help me out by using my affiliate link if you decide to try it: https://brave.com/aar562
IOTA
Being new to the cryptocurrency world (earning BAT from Brave is what started me on this path), I thought I would do some research on what the differences are and what their goals are. Everyone and his dog have by now heard of Bitcoin, this had no interest to me for an investment but I needed to understand it. Readers of PublishOx likely know all about Blockchain so I won't repeat the words.
I found myself gravitating towards IOTA due to it's emphasis on providing the base technology for the Internet of Things. Instead of the Blockchain, IOTA transactions utilise a technology called the Tangle. The very nature of these transactions removes the need for miners, meaning no fees, and gets faster as the user base grows. Smart Car Chargers are already using IOTA as a way of balancing the grid by charging vehicles at lower cost times, and even crediting the vehicle owner with IOTA during high peak energy usage. (source)
More recently, Jaguar Land Rover are rewarding their customers with IOTA for telematics data (source). An idea of mixing smart parking systems with an automatic payment method using the IOTA Tangle is another proof of concept that really spiked my interest in this currency (source).
GeoDB
In my search to find other systems that could earn me crypto passively (like Brave), I stumbled across GeoDB. While it is currently in its early stages and not offering any real world value to users just yet, their end goal is to simply allow you to provide data about your device (geo location, installed apps, general usage etc.) in exchange for GEO. I'm currently testing their Android app in which I do nothing except allow it to run in the background. If you're curious, their homepage is https://tokensale.geodb.com/en/ (no affiliate program but they are saying that early testers will be rewarded later on).
The Theory Of My Inverse Future
With the above technologies, I find myself thinking of a world where a user offers their data to a company, in exchange for crypto. A reward being offered to the device owner, not for doing anything actively, but simply allowing software to run passively in the background. Take this concept to the extreme and I envision an app that is installed on the users device, that enables system notifications (for the use of adverts) that utilise the data that is being offered. The more data a user wants to share, the higher their rewards (based on the quality information that advertising agencies can use). This is of course an optional software as this will only be beneficial to the user if it is their choice.
Now, take this even further. With the new business models of subscriptions, I imagine an industry in which a user actually pays a subscription for this service in order to boost the rewards that are received. Just think about that...
Your data is there, being used by companies as it is. Being sold on for the companies gain, not yours. A software that takes Brave's approach of opt-in advertising and rewards, IOTA's ability to scale without fees and being centered on IoT, and GeoDB's passive running in the background whilst rewarding you even further - that is my theory of an inverse future in which users actually pay to share their data to earn rewards.
Final Thoughts
If you've read this far, thank you. This is my first article and my first attempt at actually writing anything. If you have any feedback, whether positive, negative or other - I'd love to hear from you.
