Decentralized Personal Data Marketplaces: How Participation in a DAO Can Support the Production of Citizen-Generated Data

Abstract

Big Tech companies operating in a data-driven economy offer services that rely on their users’ personal data and usually store this personal information in “data silos” that prevent transparency about their use and opportunities for data sharing for public interest. In this paper, we present a solution that promotes the development of decentralized personal data marketplaces, exploiting the use of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), Decentralized File Storages (DFS) and smart contracts for storing personal data and managing access control in a decentralized way. Moreover, we focus on the issue of a lack of efficient decentralized mechanisms in DLTs and DFSs for querying a certain type of data. For this reason, we propose the use of a hypercube-structured Distributed Hash Table (DHT) on top of DLTs, organized for efficient processing of multiple keyword-based queries on the ledger data. We test our approach with the implementation of a use case regarding the creation of citizen-generated data based on direct participation and the involvement of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). The performance evaluation demonstrates the viability of our approach for decentralized data searches, distributed authorization mechanisms and smart contract exploitation.

Personal Data Stores (PDS): A Review

“…First, blockchains as a decentralised system can provide a robust storage system since there is no central point of failure. In addition, PDS platforms need to provide a unique identity (Self-Sovereign Identity) to associate individuals’ personal data, which could lead to several other benefits, decentralised access control, decentralised data search, and decentralised data marketplace [ 71 ]. Moreover, blockchain technology helps PDS platforms with requests related to data authentications, verification, and authorisation.…”

Disruptive Technologies for e-Diasporas: Blockchain, DAOs, Data Cooperatives, Metaverse, and ChatGPT

“…In the next methodological and comparative section, these cases will be included in the analysis (see Table 1): Blockchain for Humanity, Bitnation, BABB, Tari, AidCoin, World Identity Network, Humaniq, and Golem Network. (ii) DAOs are organizations run by rules encoded as computer programs on a blockchain network, enabling decentralized decisionmaking and management (Zichichi et al, 2022). They can empower diaspora communities to collaborate, pool resources, and make collective decisions without relying on centralized authorities (Nabben, 2022).…”

“…4. Community-driven development: DAOs are typically driven by community members with shared goals and values, leading to the development of solutions tailored to the specific needs and challenges of e-diaspora communities (Zichichi et al, 2022).…”

DataMesh+: A Blockchain-Powered Peer-to-Peer Data Exchange Model for Self-Sovereign Data Marketplaces

“…This transition to a blockchain-based framework marks a stride toward decentralized P2P data marketplaces, offering a more equitable, secure, reliable, and transparent environment for data exchange. Despite advances in blockchain and smart contract-based P2P data trading models [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 21 , 22 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ], existing systems have yet to fully address the inherent challenges of traditional marketplaces, particularly in terms of decentralization, transparency, fairness, security, trust, user control over data ownership, and consent control over data. How can blockchain, smart contracts, and decentralized storage technologies be leveraged to build secure, reliable, and user-centric decentralized data marketplaces?…”