TL; DR
Full story
You know that scene at the end of Titanic?
The one where old Rose drops the diamond necklace ‘The Heart of the Ocean’ into the sea, causing it to be lost forever?
This is true, but for your health data.
Confused? Let’s start here…
One of the biggest selling points of Web3 technology is that it increases your individual financial autonomy.
(You can store large sums of money on a USB stick instead of a bank account, and transact anonymously via a crypto wallet, instead of doxing via a debit card).
Now the folks at BeatBit Wellness Lab are looking to extend a user’s individual autonomy beyond just their finances.
Here’s what they’re planning:
BeatBit created the ‘Cudis’ ring, which is essentially the Web3 version of an Oura ring (think the health features of an Apple Watch, but the device is worn on your finger).
The point of difference here is:
Your health data is encrypted and stored anonymously on IPFS (a decentralized file storage system) — meaning only you can access it.
…Ok nice. How does that relate to individual autonomy?
It relates specifically to our individual body autonomy.
For example, when Roe v. Wade was overturned in the US, health tracking apps were removed en masse because users living in certain states feared that these companies would betray them to authorities.
And it’s not like it was an unfounded fear:
A fertility tracking app known as Flo was sued by the FTC in 2021 for sharing user data with Facebook, Google and others.
But even if these apps were not willingly share user data, and instead had a privacy policy in place – that’s not a solution!
With enough legal pressure, this policy can be broken.
So here’s how the ‘Web3 escape hatch’ works:
The only way to access and track health data using BeatBit’s technology is through the app on your phone, which contains the encrypted key – i.e. a very complex password that would take ‘a million years to crack ‘.
(And there is no company among them Also happens to have that key).
So if you delete the app from your phone and destroy all saved backup passwords, your health data will not be accessible to anyone and will be gone forever.
Just like Rose’s diamond necklace.
Oh yes, and PS:
like you Doing If you want to pull a Flo and sell your health data to third parties, you can completely anonymous.
