Decentralizing Privacy: Using Blockchain to Protect Personal Data

The recent increase in reported incidents of surveillance and security breaches compromising users' privacy call into question the current model, in which third-parties collect and control massive amounts of personal data. Bit coin has demonstrated in the financial space that trusted, auditable computing is possible using a decentralized network of peers accompanied by a public ledger. In this paper, we describe a decentralized personal data management system that ensures users own and control their data. We implement a protocol that turns a block chain into an automated access-control manager that does not require trust in a third party. Unlike Bit coin, transactions in our system are not strictly financial--they are used to carry instructions, such as storing, querying and sharing data. Finally, we discuss possible future extensions to block chains that could harness them into a well-rounded solution for trusted computing problems in society.