How it started… and where we’re at

There used to be a time where people only spoke to each other live being face to face, today you can be “live” with someone even from hundreds of kilometers appart. The prevalence of technology, connectivity and social media trust (or dependence?) has made it that some people started oversharing…

I’m specifically making a reference to the thousands of data points that most platforms capture. This evolution, while bringing unprecedented levels of convenience and connectivity, has also raised significant concerns about digital privacy. As users, we're often unaware of how much personal data we're handing over or how it's being used – and possibly exploited.

Why is privacy such as big deal in today’s age?

To answer that, I suppose we should allow ourselves to better understand the privacy issues with current habits and some of the reason why digital data has become so valuable by private businesses. According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, about 79% of adults are concerned about how companies use their data. This is a lot of people - yet I’m ready to bet a 20 that most people won’t recognize the main usage for their data. Even worse, according to the same research, roughly six-in-ten Americans believe it is not possible to go through daily life without having your data collected, and unfortunately, this number increase to 8-in-10 for government access to data.

Of course, most of you agree - and sign off - for these informations to be used, and their use may not always be nefarious: the VR headset (Meta Quest2) I’m wearing while writing this has a spatial sensor to monitor my surroundings, but also has special sensors that would notify me of something happening in the physical-world around me: oversharing of data yes, but I kinda need it (especially to know what’s around me like a chair - or a cat?). But some data points may really just to know more about your habits and behaviours, let’s say as easy as knowing whether you like cheesecake (from a social media interaction) or if you really like a certain type of visuals or aestetics. Now if I tell you that businesses such as Amazon or Nissan use Predictive Life Changes indicator - by analyzing patterns in your social media activity, companies can predict major life events, like breakups, job changes, or even pregnancy. This information can be used for targeted advertising that might feel invasive. It may also just feel weird that some platform are pretty sharp at knowing “who you really are” via quite impressive categorization algorithms - pretty sure you’ll be impressed just by having a peak at the “Reaction Preference” setting on Facebook.

Some products we use today may even feel like they have been designed with such goals in mind: By understanding your preferences, likings but also vulnerabilities, social media platforms can subtly influence your buying decisions, promoting products in a way that specifically appeals to you. The scary part is when these little algorithms are used for more dystopian profiling to achieve emotional or information influence, after all, analyzing user data can help determine emotional states and potentially manipulate moods. For instance, some algorithms might adjust the content you see in your feed to keep you engaged longer, even if it means showing more negative or controversial posts. This tactic has been proved by a leading social media platform recently in 2018… to be used in political campaigns or to tailor the news and information you see to sway your political views. This particular issue has tremendously been part of previous conversations pertaining to the prevalence of bots in most platforms; either coming from engagement farming operations or by literally being just bots developped to engage with content (commonly known as “fake accounts”)

I believe that with current technologies such as AI, video and voice deepfakes and synthetic content one may need to protect even more the permanent footprint they leave on the open internet…

Some technologies may help in the long run…

In this landscape of increasing uncertainty, blockchain technology emerges as an interesting proposition. I’ll skip you the part where you’d read about encryption that's almost impossible to breach or the distributed nature of data hosting… I’d rather focus on a simple concept that we aim to overuse within the Homies platform : whitelisting. It’s a common smart contract feature that allow a wallet holder to confirm trust to another wallet address holder. Simple? The coolest thing is that this confirmation-encryption-secret-word-sharing happens in less than a second when you complete a secret handshake with a new Homie using NFC.

Unlike traditional databases controlled by a single entities (that would be us), our blockchain disperses data across the network, making unauthorized access or manipulation a far more complex challenge. In fact, to access the info - you have to be in the close loop of friendship; either a Homie, or part of a Crew of Homies.

This feature enables user for a more confortable environment, and our creation partners will also have a quiet concience, ensuring that user’s privacy is covered.

This technology, therefore, holds the promise of returning control of personal data back to the rightful owners: the users themselves, without capturing all bits of information that may be intrusive.

In concrete terms what does that mean?

Short answer is: your interaction will remain between your Homies and you. The platform’s objective is not to become a social media platform, but to serve as a personalized tool for users to connect with their friends, or "homies," in a way they prefer. We may capture base data for performance, but we won’t be capturing data associated to you individually (ok some Experiences may ask your permission for Results and Gifts…) but in the end - our business model won’t rely on data advertisement or intrusive engagement. According to a recent Cisco Survey on Young Consumer Privacy, at least 84% of yound adult care about their privacy and data security mostly because it feels “weird” to think that your device may know something about you that you don’t.

I really hope that you’ll understand that when we talk about Web3 or Blockchain within the network, it's not just in reference to financial transactions, but a potential cornerstone technology for building a safer, more private digital world.

Be it if it’s utilitiarian, out of curiosity or because you want to try a new mobile game.

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