[WATCH] The future of Data Sovereignty with Robert Grant at AIBC 2022

In a keynote at the AIBC UAE Summit, Chairman and CEO of Crown Sterling Robert Grant spoke about the importance of data sovereignty, how the average person was being cheated out of their own money through data poaching and how he planned to solve that

Data Sovereignty: Proof of Self’s safeguard

If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution? When the old and the new stand side by side and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.

Starting off with this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s reflection on living in turbulent times, Grant noted how we find ourselves in a similar situation. Finding ourselves on the precipice of a sea change in global society, he pointed out that the changing nature of how we interact with the world will need new ways of protecting the average person from more powerful economic predators.

One of the biggest challenges in the world is that we no longer have total control of our identities. We all know that, especially in the last two years, major tech companies have been mining our data.

Elaborating on the economics of social media, he showed the audience how Big Tech was parasitizing their user base, selling their data for their own profit. This is especially jarring when one considers Data to be not only a product of the individual but part of their essential being with Rights attributed to it.

We believe that Data is the intangible personal property of the original producers and therefore it is protected by the US Constitution, by the UN Charter and by EU legislation. Privacy is not well protected but data ownership is well-protected

With data sovereignty being such a vital pillar for the consumer of the future, Grant concluded that the only way to safeguard one’s own data was through the age-old but ever-advancing art of encryption.

Your data, your geolocation, all of the information on your purchase history, as well as your search queries. All of this data is captured right now. This data can be aggregated at your choice through encryption technology that doesn’t allow other companies to have access to it.

“How can people actually take advantage of claiming protecting, controlling and possibly even monetizing their data?”

Quantum vs Crypto: The new Cold War

Elaborating, he continued by arguing that traditional forms of encryption would not be able to stand up to the computational power of the near future. The only truly secure form of encryption would be quantum proof.

The United States White House announced that every branch of the US Government must be on quantum encryption within 6 months. If it’s good enough for the US government, why not Blockchain?

With IBM already launching powerful quantum computers, the nascent arms race between Blockchain empowered cryptography and quantum computer empowered hacking may come to shape the future of data sovereignty.

Our goal is to help create sovereignty for consumers, for everyone. The mechanism to do that is by claiming, protecting and controlling it (data.) That’s going to put the power back into the hands of consumers and, in the future, it’s going to be all about the proof of self.

For a private interview that the AIBC Summit had with Robert Grant where he elaborates in more details about Crown Sterling, see below.

AIBC Americas debuts in Toronto:

Following the massive success that was AIBC Asia, the Summit’s first ever physical debut in the Americas is set to take Toronto by storm this June. Uniting the best and brightest in the emerging tech world, AIBC Americas will feature leading policy makers, executives, technologists and visionaries in groundbreaking areas such as AI, Blockchain and Quantum Computing. The Summit will be composed of three days of thought-leading panels, inspiring keynotes and a massive amount of opportunities to network, leaving our delegates several steps closer to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Join us from the 6th till the 9th of June in Toronto!