Ensuring and Preserving the Privacy of Individuals with a Decentralized Data Marketplace

Abstract

Corporations collect more data about their users than ever. They leave no room for negotiation in their Terms of Service . GDPR, a new EU regulation concerning data ownership, amends this somewhat, but the users are still left with very little control of the data they are generating. The purpose of this thesis was to create design requirements, identify relevant technologies for and implement a data marketplace giving the users control of their data. The requirements had basis in protecting personal information as defined in GDPR, avoiding techniques which Big Data enables to infer new information about users, and upholding Szabo s principles of smart contracts. They were designed to give more control to the users, and the ability to negotiate their preferred Terms of Service . The most prominent identified technologies were IPFS, Ethereum, Matrix and Raspeberry Pi. A custom negotiation protocol as well as custom Multi-Agent Sys- tems (MAS) scripts were created to enable agents representing users of the data mar- ketplace. The design requirements were found to be adequate, although with room for improvement. The identified technologies proved highly suitable, while the custom MAS scripts and the negotiation protocol met some of the design requirements, but not all. The implementation was found to be a good foundation for a future data marketplace. The technology of today was deemed mostly ready to create a data marketplace, though with some challenges left. Proposals for future work regarding both de- sign requirements and implementation were provided, encouraging further devel- opment.