How do you stop the data monopoly of The Four (Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook)? It is important to ensure that we co-own and have total access to the co created data that has given The Four a near monopoly of the currency of our times – our data.
John Battelle, author of The Search, How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, co-founder of Wired Magazine, The Industry Standards and the Web2.0 Conference, now the Chairman of NewCo, has a fascinating idea-
“…That every data service at scale had to stand up an API that allowed consumers to access their co-created data, download a copy of it (which I am calling a token), and make that copy available to any service they deemed worthy”
The need to act is evident from the Facebook/CA scandal, legislations like GDPR and similar legislations and discussions worldwide.
In his article, John outlines his idea of tokenising our data and data portability and advocates a legislation to free us from the control of The Four.
