by Charles Foucault-Dumas published on 17 May 2021

News

HestiaLabs wants to change the world with “data collectives”. What does this mean? That rather than sharing all your data with a few giant monopolies that (ab)use it without your knowledge, you will now have a choice. The choice of who you share your data with and for what. You will decide to share it or not. You will decide to share it with this project, but not that one. You will decide what benefits you will get in return.

Why is it important?

Handing over all our data blindly for years to a handful of gluttonous giants is now having disastrous consequences for our free will and for our democracies (as this article explains so well). With data collectives, they will not be used (anymore), without your consent, for other purposes (such as targeting you with advertisements or, worse, influencing your opinions with content made on the analysis of your psychological profile). You will share certain data, those of your choice, with this or that project, relevant to you.

Okay, that's nice. But how, in concrete terms, do I take control of my data?

The data you generate belongs to you, it's the law. You can get it back, it's your right.

HestiaLabs makes easy-to-use tools to help you do that. Our first prototype is this interface developed for the Dating Privacy project:

It allows any user of a dating application to do very easily the complex process of recovering his/her data from the company he/she uses the service. This tool works for more than forty dating applications, from Tinder to Grindr, from Adopte un mec to Happn, from Bumble to Pickable...

Then, the user can, if and only if he/she wishes, share this data with the Dating Privacy project in order to help it in its mission to clean up dating apps.

This interface is HestiaLabs' first achievement. It will be followed by many others. Eventually, you will always have a data collective at your fingertips to help you get around better, to collaborate better, to inform yourself better, to practice sports better, to do better..., to do better... There is a data collective for that. The variations are infinite and, for most of them, still to be invented.

In that respect, if you have a meaningful project in mind that requires data, we’re happy to help! HestiaLabs supports you in creating the data collective and the community of people willing to share their data to reach your goal. For free! Submit your project here.

And if you just want to stay informed about the release of our new prototypes? Subscribe to our newsletter.