Dazzle

2022-06-27

Unpacking the Dazzle mission statement

By Johannes Ernst

https://dazzle.town/blog/2022-06-27-unpacking-the-mission/

The dazzle.town front page proudly says:

We take back our personal data

from the Web2 surveillance platforms

to our own Web3 Data Palaces in the metaverse

where we decide how our data is used and monetized.

What do we mean by this?

Your personal data
That’s all the data anybody has about you. Your personal data includes little things like your e-mail address and credit card numbers to big things like all photos and videos you ever took, but also all X-Rays and MRI’s any of your doctors ever took.
The posts you made on Facebook. The comments you left on YouTube videos. Who you followed on Twitter last Thursday, or on a Thursday 10 years ago. Your purchases that your grocery store might have been tracking for 20 years. Your financial statements. Your Google search history and what your phone company knows about where you were and who you called. Anybody who has ever put a cookie into your browser! And much more.
That’s a lot! Eventually, we want it back, and all of it. It is ours, not theirs, and the laws tend to be getting quite clear that we have the right to get it all back.
The Web2 surveillance platforms
Most of our personal data today is stored by the big internet platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon. They like to collect as much data as possible about everybody, and this is why we call them surveillance platforms.
Most other companies collect data, too, but far less. We want that data back, too, but let’s first focus on taking back our data from the big surveillance platforms.
Our own Web3 Data Palaces in the metaverse
We’ll have to say a lot about that in the future. For now, just think of your data palace of a place in cyberspace where you can put a lot of stuff. Virtual stuff, like personal data.
A place that you own. A place where you have a lock and a key and nobody else does, so nobody can get at it unless you let them. A place where you can do with what you put there any way you like, irrespective of what some internet gazillionaire may think.
Your web3 Data Palace is the logical place where to put your data that you care about.
Where we decide…
Why does everybody collect your personal data in the first place? Easy: because it lets them make money.
By hounding you with advertisements. By manipulating your news feed just enough so that you are 5% more likely to vote for the other guy or buy the overpriced product. By making your teenager feel like missing out, so she will spend some extra money she doesn’t have. The list goes on, all of which is terrible. This needs to stop.
What about you decide how your personal data is used, instead of some people who have their own best interests at heart, and not your’s! And if somebody wants to make money from your personal data, you decide whether they get to, and how much of a share you want.

We don’t want to take personal data out of circulation. It can be very useful and very beneficial. But we want You to decide how You want Your personal data to be used. Maybe not at all. Maybe you want to give it to lots more people than have it today. Or donate it to research, which can’t be done today because Facebook has it, not you. The possibilities are endless.

With Dazzle, what you do with your data is up to you, not up to some internet overlord. And because of that, we can change the world!

  • No more manipulation.
  • No more privacy invasion.
  • No more tracking…
  • and the list goes on.

Imagine if you provided lots of good data to the good guys who don’t want to manipulate you, but dazzle you with respectful service. And you gave none to the bad guys who track you all over the web and sell your data behind your back. The bad guys would have to change their ways, and everybody would be better off.

That’s what we want to do, and it starts with taking our data back.

P.S. Want to help? This last paragraph really could use a diagram.