Monetizing Personal Data Using The Blockchain

I knew I was going to like this at Linkin when the title caught my eye in a search on 'Blockchain Monetization.

"EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS TO MONETIZE PERSONAL AND IOT DATA USING SMART CONTRACTS AND THE BLOCK CHAIN" -- by Stan Smith, Knowledgelevers

What I anticipated was confirmed in the second sentence where he used my favorite word: Granular.  The real nitty gritty smallest uique unit building block of the structure.  What followed was a fantastic find.

Stan talks tech like a pro but an examination of his background is a surprise.  He is certainly multi talented!  His ability to talk tech appears in one of his patents: https://www.google.com/patents/US8862506 buried in that is is true foundation ability in social science as demonstrated extract from the patent:  "The social benefit of the invention is to enable an individual to control access and distribution of their personal data as they actively exercise their rights to privacy and assert ownership of the intellectual property."  

Fantastic!  

Some credit most certainly goes to Stan's associate, Adam Tanner.
And also here.   He authored this: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-data-brokers-make-money-off-your-medical-records/

I would call them both social technologists.

The patent does not contain the words Block Chain or BlockChain.  However that is exactly the concept explained by a portion of the patent.

The prior post looking at Nextdoor and its privacy policy caused me to think back a couple of previous blog entries to Blockchain and its potential applications.  Nextdoor is just another social media company making money off personal information.  The privacy statement of all these companies does not say they are using it and selling as a database.  No, they are sharing with third parties and official affiliates.

Why don't I get a cut on my personal data?  I'll sell my whole life story or any part of it for a price, if it is worth it to someone.  Information about me is personal or public.  Some personal information about me is given to an entity in which I have some trust not share it externally.  Some strictly personal information is obtained by stealth.  By means of not opting out when the default is opt in.  It takes advantage of me not knowing or looking for all the gotcha's.

There is the matter of determining what person private data about myself that I have exclusive personal ownership of by right of ownership?
Good question!

This is an extract from the Nextdoor Membership Agreement:  
" Content. You retain all ownership rights to the text, photos, video and other content you submit to Nextdoor (collectively, your “Content”). You give us permission, in the form of a nonexclusive worldwide license, to use, copy, and publish your Content as described in our privacy policy."

Whatever I do own I could sell on a blockchain contract and receive a micro payment (maybe even a macro payment!) in accordance with a blockchain contract for every single time it was used or updated by me.  Like a royalty payment?  All I need is an aggregator agent to control and collect the royalties.  

No more free lunch for all those harvesting my personal data which is mine by right to sell if want but not their right to take or assemble from bits and pieces.

Excellent piece, Stan Smith.  

I am studying it in detail but I can see the day coming when the Blockchain empowers Individuals to monetize personal and IoT data using smart contracts and the Blockchain.  Big data will not like the idea of  "Cost of Goods Sold"  when their business model is "Get it for Nothing". 

How about this for an idea:

Every business that sends me an email to sell something must make a micro payment specified by me as a standard fee to my crypto currency account as an automatic payment based on usage of my blockchained email address.  Consider it like the cost of a stamp put on a letter solicitation sent to me except the price of the stamp is paid to me not the post office and the payment is automatically made on the blockchain.  

That is a way to monetize my email address on the Blockchain.  

I am open for business! 

A wealth of info about data monetization at this link: http://us.wow.com/wiki/Data_monetization

Serpent 2.0:  https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/Serpent