The Privacy Problem

It looks like companies around the world are finally admitting that they have a “data privacy” problem. Following the “Cambridge-Analytica” scandal and the Great Hack documentary, privacy has become a scorching hot topic. In this article, let’s take a look at how companies around the world are waking up to this issue. Finally, we are going to see how VID is going to be at the forefront of the data privacy revolution.

The corporate world wakes up to data privacy

As per Endgadget, a group of 51 CEOs from the Business Roundtable advocacy group have sent an open letter to House and Senate leaders asking them to pass a “comprehensive consumer data privacy law.” This group includes tech companies like Amazon, AT&T, IBM, Motorola, and Qualcomm. Privacy laws in the United States vary widely from state-to-state, which is inefficient for both customers and companies. According to the group, a Federally approved law would potentially create a “stable policy environment.”

Apparently, the companies have also published a basic framework for what they’d like to see. While this could definitely be the companies looking out for their best interests, this is still a step in the right direction.

The state of data privacy

As the hackers get more sophisticated, the potency and scope of their attacks have increased drastically. Case in point the infamous Capital One breach. On July 30, 2019, Capital One, a leading financial institution, suffered one of the worst data breaches in history when 106 million customers got their personal data stolen by a hacker. The data includes roughly 140,000 US Social Security numbers, 80,000 bank account numbers, and 1 million Canadian social insurance numbers. The scary part is that the attacker only got caught because she posted all the data on GitHub and then started boasting about it online.

As data breaches get worse and people smarten themselves up, companies and governments will need to work together to tighten up privacy laws. In this day and age, data is more valuable than money. Companies need to go out of their way to safeguard user privacy. However, this is hugely challenging for traditional, centralized companies.

Why your privacy won’t be secure in a centralized company

Think of how a centralized system works. There is a centralized governing body in the middle of everything which is taking care of all admin duties. As such, all the data is usually stored in this centralized body. Eg. Facebook Inc. stores all the data that you upload to Facebook. As a result, this one central point becomes the target of hackers who want to steal the company’s data. Plus, even if the company doesn’t get hacked, the fact remains that you as a user, need to trust them to do a good job. You need to trust them to not suddenly go rogue and use your private data as they please. That’s not a sound business model.

How decentralized applications can guarantee data privacy

A decentralized application is built on top of a blockchain. Since it is decentralized, all the data isn’t stored in a centralized body, but all the nodes share it in the blockchain’s network. This significantly dilutes the attack surface. However, at VID, we wanted to go a step further to ensure that your privacy is guaranteed. We have incorporated various privacy protocols like zero-knowledge proofs to make sure that all our user data is shielded away from us.

Recently, a report by Pew Research Center stated that 6 out of 10 smartphone users chose to not install apps because of privacy concerns. We know that our users are getting increasingly more cautious and are demanding an app that respects their privacy. With VID, users will be able to enjoy an innovative social media app that doesn’t compromise their privacy.