Where is our data? A Blockchain-based Information Chain of Custody Model for Privacy Improvement

摘要

The advancement of Information and Communication Technologies has brought numerous facilities and benefits to society. In this environment, surrounded by technologies, data, and personal information, have become an essential and coveted tool for many sectors. In this scenario, where a large amount of data has been collected, stored, and shared, privacy concerns arise, especially when dealing with sensitive data such as health data. The information owner generally has no control over his information, which can bring serious consequences such as increases in health insurance prices or put the individual in an uncomfortable situation with disclosing his physical or mental health. While privacy regulations, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), make it clear that the information owner must have full control and management over their data, disparities have been observed in most systems and platforms. Therefore, they are often not able to give consent or have control and management over their data. For the users to exercise their right to privacy and have sufficient control over their data, they must know everything that happens to them, where their data is, and where they have been. It is necessary that the entire life cycle, from generation to deletion of data, is managed by its owner. To this end, this article presents an Information Chain of Custody Model based on Blockchain technology, which allows from the traceability of information to the offer of tools that will enable the effective management of data, offering total control to its owner. The result showed that the prototype was very useful in the traceability of the information. With that it became clear the technical feasibility of this research.