Datapods - Reclaim Your Data.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Lets reiterate a little, we see 2 problems with the current data-ecosystem:

First: Big tech companies have too much control about the personal data of people. More transparency, participation and control for individuals is needed.

Second: More data is sorely needed to improve all sorts of machine learning & AI applications. Creating a more egalitarian data economy will help to satisfy this need.

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Let's talk about how we'll use blockchain to solve these problems:

What is a Datapod?

Pods, an idea first coined by none other than Tim Berners-Lee (yes, that's the inventor of the internet), are personal online data stores. The idea is that each person controls his or her own data — websites visited, credit card purchases, workout routines, music streamed — in an individual data safe.

What can i do with my Datapod?

Our blockchain platform then enables every person with a Datapod to selectively share parts of their data with parties who are interested.

Whenever the data is accessed, the original data owner is compensated for it.

This entire transaction is orchestrated via a smart contract on Cardano, ensuring the transparency and safety of the operation. Once the payment has arrived in the data-owners wallet, temporary access to the requested data is provided.

Now it's also possible (under the relevant legislation that is described below) to request deletion of your data on the side of the Tech companies (such as Meta, Google, etc.).

How do i even get my data into my Datapod?

Now, this is a little more complicated.

Our goal is to create an App, with which people can automatically request their personal data from all the big tech players, and store it in their Datapod. This is possible because these tech giants have to comply with data protection laws, that require them to hand out personal data to individuals who request it.

(Currently the laws that enable this are in place in California (CCPA), the European Union (GDPR) and Brazil (LGPD). And most companies globally comply with these regulations)

All in all, this would hand the control about personal data back to the Individual.

Technical FAQ:

Where is the data stored?

The Data in question shouldn't be stored directly on chain, the storage size is simply too big. Instead the data is stored in an individual Datapod (implemented via the Solid open source protocol). Users can choose to let us host their Datapod, or choose to self host it, or use any cloud provider of their choice.

How is the data organized?

Metadata(type, size, quality, etc.) about the data of individuals is stored on-Chain. That way, potential consumers of said data, can still index the userbase, to look for the dataset they need.

How are users identified?

Users will be identified using Atala PRISM.

How is data access granted?

A smart contract will provide a temporary access token to the Datapod once payment is received in the data owners wallet.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

This project, if successful, would make Cardano a relevant player in the emerging Data-Crypto market segment.

As the project relies on different technologies, it would encourage the development of the Cardano ecosystem in these areas, namely stablecoins (for payment) and oracles (to facilitate smart contracts).

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Risk: Technical Challenges

• We will, before implementing, publish our planned architecture as a whitepaper for the community to review. Furthermore we will expand the team by a blockchain engineer to increase development skill.
• We will also look into auditing parts of the software, namely the transaction layer.
• Parts of our architecture, such as the data storage, will use open source components.

Risk: Customer Trust

• We will publish detailed blogposts about the data ecosystem, leading to more customer understanding of both the problem and our solution.
• Using smart contracts as the settlement layer will provide transparency for every party involved.
• We plan to allow users to self host their Datapods, giving them ultimate control about their data.

Risk: Regulatory Compliance

• Using mainly subject access requests enabled by data protection laws (CCPA, GDPR, etc.) as the data source might lead to problems if tech conglomerates don't comply with these laws.
• We will, if needed, pursue legal action against these companies if they in any way obstruct the data-retrieval.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

This is the current roadmap, for a 6 months funding window.

Month 1 -> Technical Architecture & Feasibility Study:

• Assess the feasibility of the project.
• Develop detailed technical whitepaper.
• Communicate with B2C and B2B customers to develop product market fit.
• Dig into the legal framework around data protection (namely CCPA & GDPR).

Month 2 -> Finalize Architecture and Team

• In coordination with the community, decide on a final architecture for the product.
• Start technical trials with the open source tools that will be used in development.
• Start hiring for a blockchain engineer to accompany our technical team members.
• Finalize website and start producing content about the current data-economy.
• Get in contact with legal professionals to verify legal viability of the platform.

Months 3 - 5 -> Develop initial parts of the platform & start marketing

• Main development effort will be put towards:
• the user application to sign up and access their data.
• the required back-end to automate data requests.
• the infrastructure development to automate deployment of the Datapods.
• Optionally, start development on the blockchain wallet for users:
• this includes the metadata store.
• and the currency wallet.
• Alongside the main development effort we will:
• work to receive full legal green-light for the platform.
• start writing about the problem and our solution, increase customer awareness.
• look for first business customers as trial testers.

Month 6 -> Deploy MVP version of the platform

• Deploy a MVP version of the platform, this would include:
• The ability to sign up, and automatically have your data requested for you.
• The automatic provisioning of a Datapod.
• A detailed dashboard of what data is present about you.
• The ability to request deletion of said data.
• Onboard first users and generate traction.
• Significantly ramp up marketing efforts.
• Start development for the transaction layer, and the on-chain components of the platform.
• Depending on the funding that's left, look for more fundraising.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

We would like to invest $98,200 in the development of Datapods. The investment would be split into the categories shown below. The core team would work mainly on the development of the product. In addition, we would devote our time to a detailed analysis of data protection laws and marketing efforts to attract and acquire customers.

4ppl Core Team

• Salary: 4 x $30 x 20hrs/week for 6 months = $62,400
• Office Space: $1200/month for 6 months = $7200

External Experts

• Legal opinion regarding GDPR and various other data protection laws: $6600
• Blockchain engineer: $50 x 10hrs/week for 6 months = $13000

Management Costs

• Marketing & Promotion on social media and blockchain-designated media: $7000
• Server-Hosting, Website DNS, Licenses: $2000

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

The core team is composed of 4 people. We are a committed team with considerable knowledge and experience in our designated fields. Furthermore, we are well connected in the local startup scene and have built a sizeable network. Additionally, external experts will assist us in blockchain development and will provide expertise in data protection laws.

Jakob Endler

Data Engineer

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakobendler/

David Goldschmidt

Financial Manger

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-goldschmidt-dg/

Finn Rübo

Legal Manager

https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-ruebo/

Lukas Stein

Operational Manger

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukas-p-stein/

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

We might, depending on the progress we've achieved with this funding.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

We're planning to be very transparent about our building process.

Updates on programming, community, and other progress will be given regularly.

Code will be (largely) open source, so everyone can see what our developers are working on.

Metrics for accountability:

• (Development) Roadmap Completion -> This measures how many steps of our development roadmap (and whitepaper) we have completed.
• User Acquisition -> We will measure the number of beta users we can acquire.
• Customer Acquisition -> We will measure the amount and size of potential customers that express interest in the platform.
• Data on Platform -> We will measure the amount of data present across all Datapods.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

The Goal is to both:

Increase data sovereignty by giving back direct control to the individual and enabling participation in the value-creation process.

and

Generate value by increasing data quality and velocity, by giving companies and organizations a way to source data directly from the creator.

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The envisioned platform would change the way the current data ecosystem works, from the current model lacking transparency and participation, to a individual-centric consent-based model where everyone receives their fair share of compensation for their data.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely new project.