You Are the Product: A Three-Step Plan to Take Back Control of Personal Data

Digital Economy 1.0 is a failure at protecting our privacy and well-being.

To regain our digital freedom, it takes every one of us to realize and demand the economic value of our data and stop giving our data away for free.

European regulators led the way to implement the General Data Protection Regulation giving individuals more control of their data.

Regulations alone can't solve the data ownership inequality problem.

By creating value out of personal data and giving it back to individuals, we can reduce inequality and perhaps even fund a universal basic income in an AI-driven economy.

Many startups in the blockchain field, such as Ocean Protocol and IOTA, are creating privacy/end-user-centric solutions to redesign the data economy.

The failures of Digital Economy 1.0 are the opportunities for Digital Economy 2.0.

Who can say the data power dynamic can't be rewritten in the next 20 years by some gutsy but perhaps unknown entrepreneurs? It is up to the doers.

Some may argue that data is valuable only when there is a lot of it.

If we don't ride on this wave and this moment to challenge the data status quo, we might regret it for the rest of our lives.