The main aspect why many people find Bitcoin so interesting is because of the underlying technology, which enables us to do things we could only dream of a few years ago. And even though not everyone values complete transparency right now, there are a lot of key areas where blockchain technology can create a more transparent ecosystem. Or to be more precise, that is what YouBase aims to provide.
Our Current Way of Using and Storing Information
Technology has been evolving at an accelerated pace over the last few years, which has had a drastic impact on the way we do everyday tasks. Just ten years ago, no one would have envisioned 1/6th of the world’s population would be using one and the same social network platform. Fast forward to today, and look at where we are right now.
The same can be said for the way we store and access data. Gone are the days where we had to write everything down on a piece of paper and file that paper in a folder. Said folder would end up in a filing cabinet somewhere, causing logistical nightmares at times. Ever since the idea of databases was introduced – in an online form that is – things have evolved accordingly.
But what if we were to take both social media and data storage one step further? Rather than keeping everything locked down and centralized, we could use the blockchain technology to decentralize everything. Social media and data would become accessible by anyone in the world, and users would be in full control of their information.
It would be a welcome change of pace, to be honest, as mega corporations now control our data from the moment we share by using any of their platforms. And even if you were to remove said data, there is always a copy of it being stored somewhere on their network. While most people may not lose sleep over these privacy concerns, YouBase think they have found the solution to this issue.
YouBase – A Decentralized Data Structure
According to the YouBase whitepaper, the plan is rather simple. By creating a distributed public network – similar to Bitcoin, – it will become easy to analyze, gather and share private data for any purpose that comes to mind. That is not all, as YouBase would also allow for the sharing of arbitrarily anonymized data with any individual requesting so.
It is important to note that there will be specific “tree branches” for specific types of data and information, rather than combining everything into one big “catalog”. Furthermore, there will be permission levels attached to every piece of information, such as the permission to read or edit existing data. Such a feature will prove to be very useful when we are talking about third-party integration through other platforms and applications.
Remaining true to its decentralized nature, YouBase will let users store documents through various means. Options can range from using a local filesystem to a proposed distributed hash table, or even cloud storage. The validity of all stored data will be ensured by assigned notaries, who can be removed or added at will, without making any changes to the document’s content.
Use Cases & Applications
As is always the case with new and disruptive technology, there are a lot of opportunities to explore. However, you have to look at YouBase from the perspective of the everyday consumer, and how they could benefit from such a service. In the YouBase whitepaper, several applications are listed, with many more to be added in the future.
One of the more interesting applications for the YouBase concept can be found in the healthcare sector. There have been far too many breaches in healthcare over the past years, leading to patient records being leaked and sold on the black market. Not to mention how consumers can – anonymously – donate validated data for clinical research.
A different use case comes in the form of providing an alternative way of logging in to web site accounts or providing government-issued verification. This could be achieved by creating an identity profile, which would in turn separate identity information from all other personal information related to that user
Last but not least, YouBase could change the social network landscape as well. Creating a social profile – which contains pictures, blog articles and posts for example – is an option to share data with different groups. In turn, you can easily keep your work profile and personal profile separated, by creating a social profile for each social group.
Source: YouBase Whitepaper
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and YouBase
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