What Blockchain Could Mean for Your Health Data

Thoughts about blockchain and health data

What Blockchain Could Mean for Your Health Data
by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott  in HBR

Big data is perhaps the most powerful asset we have in solving big problems these days. We need it to track and trace infection, manage healthcare talent and medical supply chains, and plan for our economic futures.

But how can we balance data and privacy? Legislation and regulation of big data such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act are partial measures at best. Regulators and pundits have focused so much on the demand side of the data equation — that is, on the use or sale of private citizens’ data in corporate applications like Facebook, Google, and Uber without the individuals’ awareness — that they’ve failed to look at the supply side of data: where data originates, who creates it, who really owns it, and who gets to capture it in the first place.

The answer is you do. All these data are a subset of your digital identity — the “virtual you,” created by your data contrail across the Internet. That’s how most corporations and institutions view you. As Carlos Moreira, CEO of WISeKey, said, “That identity is now yours, but the data that comes from its interaction in the world is owned by someone else.”

It’s time we started taking our personal data as seriously as the top tech firms do. We need to understand its real value to us in all aspects of our lives. Blockchain technology can help us do that, enabling us to use our data proactively and improve our well-being. And while there are many areas where taking control of our data might improve our lives, there is one particularly promising ,,,, '