TL;DR
Full Story
You know that scene at the end of Titanic?
The one where old Rose drops the ‘The Heart of the Ocean’ diamond necklace into the sea, causing it to be lost forever?
This is like that, 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 instead of a bank account, and transact anonymously via a crypto wallet, instead of doxed via a debit card).
Now, the folks over at BeatBit Wellness Lab are attempting to extend a user’s individual autonomy beyond just their finances.
Here’s what they’re up to:
BeatBit have 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 anonymously stored on IPFS (a decentralized file storage system) — meaning only you can access it.
…ok, cool. 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 trackings app got deleted en mass, cause users who lived in certain states feared these companies might start snitching on them to authorities.
And it’s not like it was an unfounded fear:
A fertility-tracking app known as Flo was taken to court by the FTC in 2021 for sharing user data with Facebook, Google, and others.
But even if these apps weren’t willingly sharing user data, and instead had privacy policies in place — that ain’t a fix!
With enough legal pressure, these policies can be broken.
So here’s how the ‘Web3 escape hatch’ works:
The only way to access/track health data using BeatBit’s technology is through the app on your phone, which holds the encrypted key — aka: a highly complex “would take a million years to crack” password.
(And there’s no company in the middle that also happens to have that key).
So if you delete the app from your phone and destroy any recorded backup passwords, your health data is accessible to no one, and gone forever.
Much like Rose’s diamond necklace.
Oh, and P.S:
If you do want to ‘pull a Flo’ and sell your health data to third parties, you can do so completely anonymously.
