
Citizens give up data in blockchain project to improve cities - iamcreasy
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2131950-citizens-give-up-data-in-blockchain-project-to-improve-cities/
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frgtpsswrdlame
On one hand I think if the average citizen is throwing off all this
information about themselves, it's probably better that municipalities receive
some and are able to govern with (maybe) a bit more nuance. On the other hand
it feels a bit like conditioning people to give information away. It's nice
that you get to choose how much of it you give away, it just feels odd that it
exists at all.

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woodrowbarlow
in my opinion, the biggest problem with data mining today is that the
layperson doesn't understand who is gathering information, what information is
being gathered, and how to control that information. furthermore, i think
corporations and other interested bodies believe that this opaqueness is the
only way they can get access to the information they want... and i'm not
convinced that's the case.

if this sets a precedent for volunteering information in a transparent manner
through known channels with deliberate controls, i really think everyone can
win.

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MichaelBurge
How does the blockchain improve people's control over their data compared to
some telemetry settings in the cell phone app itself?

Also, the same app is being used to collect tracking data, market your unused
power tools, and comment on city legislature? I guess these are excuses to get
people to install it. A small tax credit to install a tracking app seems like
it'd be more efficient.

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Rmilb
The blockchain can be used to enrypt the data you generate on a blockchain and
entrust the user with a cryptographic token that can be used to generate
different tokens that allow others to decrypt specific sets of data, like
location tracking.

The tough part about this is that for the user to truly own their data, they
must be entrusted with the root keys of their data, and if they lose it, and
their backup pass phrase, the data is lost forever.

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nsuser3
> the data is lost forever.

Unless someone copied it?

