Blockchain Opportunity behind Google’s Large Fine

Just last July, Google received a 4.3 billion euro fine from the European Union – however, it looks like Google didn’t learn anything from the experience. Perhaps this will become a new opportunity for privacy-preserving blockchain technology to thrive under General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Recently, the Associated Press revealed that some of the applications that Google has put on the Android and Apple Stores can store the location data of users  without their knowledge, and may have been collected from as many as two billion Android users and many tens of millions of iOS users. Some insiders believe that Google’s behavior undoubtedly violates the EU GDPR. Once the investigation from related complaints has begun, Google will face a fine of up to 4% of its global profits on top of the aforementioned fine from last month.

As a powerful new regulation, GDPR demands that any company that stores personal data for a citizen of the EU must give that person the authority to access, review, and delete that information. Although the implementation of GDPR is designed to prevent data retention by private companies, there is no way to guarantee personal data is completely deleted in a company’s data system.

As an up-and-coming platform that preserves privacy for decentralized applications, maybe Origo.Network can realize privacy protection technically through two ways:

First, you can choose to store your personal data in an encrypted fashion on the Origo platform for convenient usage in the future, which can also be done by centralized internet companies. The difference being that when you want to delete your personal data, centralized internet companies offer no effective proof – while the deletion of your account can be witnessed and verified by everyone on the Origo platform.

Second, the Origo platform also allows you to interact with other people without storing and revealing your personal data. Instead of using your personal data directly, the platform enables you to generate a cryptographic proof of your data and you can use that proof to demonstrate in any application who you are, what you have, and more. So Origo platform stores only the computational proof of your personal data, not your personal data itself. Then you will not have to worry about your right to access and delete your data if you want to retain use of applications that require verification.

Origo.Network has passed many milestones in the past four months: at the end of July, Origo finished the PoC of Origo Protocol, the framework of the Origo Compiler, as well as the basic building blocks of the Origo Blockchain, began business development with more than 15 companies and projects across 8 different countries. Origo.Network is extending its market leadership despite the relative bearish crypto environment.

The protection of data and retention of privacy is good for everyone. The Internet era has made our life much more convenient, at the cost of our privacy. However, we are entering the era of GDPR. This new era also means the awakening of global privacy protection awareness. In the era of GDPR, there will be more fines awaiting international corporations if they choose not to implement privacy protection solutions as soon as possible.