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It’s a sad statement when a majority of people recognize a problem, hate that it’s happening, yet feel utterly powerless to do anything about it. That’s true for international crises like wars or health epidemics, but it’s just as true for more low-key and insidious evils we encounter every day.
Like the way our personal data is stolen from us and exploited 24/7/365.
It’s no mystery that no matter where you go online, every company you do business with and every service you enlist is capturing your data. As companies all vie to gather your information so they can sell more effectively to you, there’s the constant fear that that data will be either handled carelessly or even actively abused.
Over 60 percent of Americans say it isn’t possible to go through a day without their information being harvested. And over 80 percent feel they have little to no control of what happens to all of their personal information floating through scores of servers and databases everywhere.
TIKI believes the next several decades will ultimately decide who really owns personal data. And they think it should be you, not big tech. Their new platform is not only about taking back control of personal information, but going a step further, actively empowering each user to not only decide, but even profit from how their details are used.
TIKI gives users control of their personal data
For a topic as technologically complicated and far-reaching as data collection, the TIKI app — and its underpinning philosophy — are actually surprisingly simple.
Once users sign on to TIKI, the app keeps a watchful eye out for every scrap of information companies try to harvest. Rather than just accepting the harvesting, TIKI lets users decide on a case-by-case basis how their data can be used. With an interface reminiscent of the swipe left-swipe right dating app model, users can swipe left and deny a company from using their data, or swipe right and approve it.
If you want a retailer like Home Depot or Costco to offer items better suited to your personal taste, swipe right and give consent. If you don’t want Instagram using facial recognition tech to track your face across every image in its archive, swipe left and opt out. It’s that simple.
But while TIKI is a staunch information gateway, it can act as more than a defender, essentially becoming your digital agent in profiting off the monetization of your details.
Rather than just letting Amazon or Facebook develop information about you, then sell it for their own gain, TIKI allows 100 percent of the money from the sale of your information to go right back where it belongs: to the individual user.
TIKI organizes the data each user authorizes, assesses its value to companies each user approves, then sells the business that information, sending all of that profit back to the user. Companies get the data they want, users get paid for its worth and can then withdraw those payments as cash, cryptocurrency, or even donate it to a cause they value.
Invest now in TIKI
After launching earlier this year, TIKI has struck a chord with thousands of people, with more than 120,000 users signing on to the free platform. While TIKI is free for users, that’s not the case for companies, which pay TIKI a 10 percent transaction fee on purchasing user information.
TIKI has launched a StartEngine campaign for actively onboarding initial investors to help grow the platform and broaden its reach. So far, the effort has already raised more than $275,000 from investors like Malinda Gagnon, who said she invested because she believes people want and should have control over their own data and benefit from their data financially.
For as little as $250, users can get in on the ground floor of this data privacy solution now by checking out TIKI’s StartEngine campaign and making a startup investment.
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