"After all, it’s your data. Why shouldn’t you get a say in how it’s used?"

Technology

Gener8: Seizing control over your data amidst its commoditisation.

Taking back control over your data.

January 19, 2022

Gener8

Harry Coombes
Editor

Gener8

Gener8: Seizing control over your data amidst its commoditisation.

Taking back control over your data.

December 27, 2021

Gener8

Harry Coombes
Editor

It’s no secret Big Tech companies like Facebook, now Meta, and Google sell your data from online activities to third parties for colossal profit. You’ll be briefly browsing one website, only to find yourself bombarded by the exact same or similar product ads when you navigate elsewhere. In 2019 alone, the 2 companies amassed a revenue of $230 billion, mostly from advertisements relying on largescale data collection to be targeted to the most relevant consumer.

Whilst perfectly legal, the feeling of being snooped on and not knowing just how much info Big Tech are able to squeeze out of each individual, bring unease and apprehension in equal measure. Privacy is invaluable to human beings; 8 out of 10 Americans even value it over keeping social media platforms free to use. But in an increasingly surveilled world, suggesting you could take back control over the level of scrutiny online may sound like unattainable nonsense. Google and Facebook are so pervasive, they seem like inescapable and all-powerful entities that refuse to be denied your lucrative information.

Yet, Gener8 has managed to offer a levelling of the playing field through its trailblazing and pertinent tool; the Gener8 Browser. Not unlike google or safari, Gener8 offer a web browser that allows searching for and visiting websites on the internet, but with one fundamental difference; Gener8 offers control.

Downloading the company’s service offers the user 2 key options whilst interacting with websites online; Privacy and Rewards Modes. Privacy Mode provides a browsing experience totally free of prying websites sharing your data with each other, allowing individuals to take back control over their info. Alternatively, users can select the latter and continue to sell your data, but generate rewards through points that can be exchanged for products, vouchers or even donations to charity. ‘Selling’ your data can finally embody its suggested meaning, but the real gift is that the choice has been given back to the people whose data is being constantly farmed.

After all, it’s your data. Why shouldn’t you get a say in how it’s used? Or a piece of the profit when organisations are using it for their gain? And what simpler way to accrue rewards than scroll through the internet?

Gener8 go one further by offering Gener8 Sentinel. This additional service allows web surfers to track data breaches related to their email address, phone number and home address, and in doing so reveal the companies responsible. This allows the user to contact the companies directly regarding removal or safeguarding of said data. Whilst this is not guaranteed to produce the desired results, the innovation as a whole draws light to a significantly unregulated area and encourage lawmakers to develop legislation that better protects a person’s privacy.

In a domain where Big Tech roam relatively unrestrained, the choice to if and how your personal info is used for their gain is nothing short of a revolutionary turning of the tables. Thought leadership of this level is set to only grow in relevance as we progress into the digital and data age, possibly even providing a starting point for stricter regulations that protect the individual.