Building a World Where Data Privacy Exists Online

Professor Song, who has taught at Berkeley for a dozen years, has been working to develop techniques and systems that not only can provide security to computer systems, but also privacy. She envisions a world of secure networks where individuals control their personal data and even derive income from it. She compares the world today to a time in human history when people did not have a clear notion of property rights. Once those rights were institutionalized and protected, she notes, it helped revolutionize economies.

She recently started a company, Oasis Labs, that is building a platform that can give people the ability to control their data and audit how it is used. She believes that once data is viewed as property, it can propel the global economy in ways unseen before. “New business models can be built on this,” she said.

Data, of course, is not like a physical object. If a person gives a friend an apple, then someone else cannot have that apple. But data is different, with a property that scientists call nonrivalry. People can give (or sell) as many copies as they want.

Most people give away their data, signing it over to companies by clicking “accept,” not even bothering to read the fine print. Either people online accept the terms and participate in the digital world or they unplug — something that is not really an option for anyone operating in the global economy. Fortunes were built on that data, enriching a handful of entrepreneurs.

“Our data has never been more at risk, and our need for new kinds of robust privacy solutions has never been greater,” said Guy Zyskind, co-founder and chief executive of Enigma, another company building a decentralized private computation protocol.

When people go online, data is collected and stored on centralized servers that are vulnerable to attack. But Professor Song and her colleagues believe that by marrying specialized computer chips and blockchain technology, they can build a system that provides greater scalability and privacy protection.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/technology/artificial-intelligence-dawn-song.html?emc=rss&partner=rss