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The capabilities of modern smartphones transcend far beyond simple communication between two parties. Today, applications that hold personal information logs are a common occurrence today.
Uber is undoubtedly one of the most popular applications in the world. The technology giant started as a simple travel sharing app. It works using location data provided by smartphones to connect to the eager drivers that work within the user's region. Essentially, it facilitates easy transportation for its users, while drivers and car owners find a new way to make money.
Over the years, the industry has grown considerably. In fact, it has developed so much that people are assuming that Uber will manage an initial public offering worth $ 130 billion. In particular, the net worth of the company was unknown to many until it emerged that the platform database was breached on several occasions, with the consequent loss of information on personal data.
Like Uber, even the main social media site Facebook has been attacked by hackers who have stolen crucial personal data. In fact, Uber made history by agreeing to settle a data breach lawsuit worth $ 148 million. It is obvious that the privacy of user information stored on such platforms is not guaranteed. Because location data can be used for criminal purposes, the industry must provide tools to protect this information from hackers.
The existing policies on data storage and privacy are characterized by non-transparency. This means that users have no control over how their service providers use their personal data. Although the recently issued regulations, such as the GDPR in European countries, address the issue of transparency, they are still limited to curbing other challenges. Likewise, centralized exchange platforms are vulnerable to hacking attacks. The centralized nature of their server means that they store large amounts of information about users, making them the ideal target for hackers.
The growing demand for personal data from the user will require the development of a secure data storage mechanism. This will certainly lead to the abandonment of centralized storage mechanisms for decentralized models. The problem, however, is that the motivation behind companies moving on decentralized storage is not the confidentiality of user information.
An ideal example of the tradeoff that users need to do between convenience and data privacy is location data collected from travel sharing apps. Platforms like Uber offer convenience, as users can easily access transport at the click of a button. Although users are aware that these companies store their confidential information on centralized servers, they tend to remain indifferent until hacking attacks occur. Furthermore, concern for convenience means that database violations are often forgotten after a short period of time.
There are several ways through location data that can be distorted with the intention of damaging the owner. Recently, reports have emerged that a company executive uses location data to find compromising information about the media. Other possible cases of the use of stolen personal data include blackmail and coercion. In fact, the US military advises its staff to desist from using services that share their GPS data on their mobile devices.
To improve the security and privacy of data, it is imperative to update the existing technical infrastructure. This is because the technology is flexible enough to adapt to the changing security needs that regulate. In contrast, regulations can not keep up with the pace the industry is evolving.
Public blockchain the networks are substantially distributed master books guaranteed by consensus algorithms. For example, the Bitcoin network uses Proof-of-work to protect transactions conducted on the blockchain network. This decentralization makes blockchain registers a more suitable and safer position than centralized servers.
Moreover, blockchain networks are IPFS-compatible, a protocol that has the security features of a distributed ledger and allows users to keep data out of the chain. Rather, it only stores the hashed fingerprint of online data. Therefore, hackers can not access user information even if they violate the blockchain database.
Ridesharing companies can give users control over their position data by integrating blockchain technology into their operations. One of these platforms is Helbiz, a company with a blockchain platform based on Ethereum. Users of Helbiz can sell their personal data in exchange for cryptocurrency tokens.
The importance of data privacy will continue to grow as long as there is a market for personal data. As of now, the foolproof option to protect this sat is adopting blockchain and IPFS storage technologies.
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