GDPR, China, and data sovereignty are ultimately wins for Amazon and Google
However, the more interesting analysis is around who the winners of these laws will be (besides the lawyers of course). To me, it’s clear that the complexity around these data sovereignty laws ultimately benefits highly-scaled service providers who can manage the nuanced regulations around these laws in an automated fashion. That means, ironically, that Google will likely win long-term on its cloud side, along with other major cloud providers like Amazon and Microsoft Azure.
That free market in data is rapidly disintegrating as governments increasingly take an interest in data, not just for privacy reasons, but also for population thought control and economic growth purposes. For software developers writing applications, that portends a complicated world for managing global and even potentially national data laws — a context that is going to be deeply enriching for service providers who can successfully help clients navigate this new world.
These new laws can be broadly grouped under the term “data sovereignty,” which is one of those terms you say at the World Economic Forum to sound like you are in the know.
While the European Union’s GDPR regulation has gotten the most press (probably because of the several dozen emails you received about it), the EU is hardly the only government enhancing its data sovereignty. China placed into force a law requiring all cloud computing and Chinese customer data to be hosted on China-based servers, and Russia has also been blocking Google and Amazon cloud services in an increasing war with Telegram. Many other countrieshave laws affecting how data can be stored and transmitted as well.
These laws are quite different, but they all serve the same purpose — to bring data back home and ensure that the desires of a country’s people (and, of course, its leaders) can be imprinted on how that data is used.
Here’s the challenge: these laws are enormously complicated and completely incompatible with one another.
Storing your own data isn’t just risky from a security perspective, it is also increasingly untenable in the fast currents of this data sovereignty world.
GDPR has been described as an anti-Google law, but it may turn out to be the greatest forcing function to drive adoption of Google Cloud. The irony may be that the supposed losers may well turn out to be the biggest winners after all.
See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/29/gdpr-and-the-cloud-winners/?utm_medium=TCnewsletter
Location-based virtual reality is increasing its footprint in the U.S.
At Two Bit Circus, which raised $15 million from investors last January, virtual reality will be about 20% of the experiences on offer. The company’s inaugural space in Los Angeles will also avail itself of projection mapping, augmented reality and other ways to immerse and entertain, Bennett promises.
It’s one reason why companies like Cinemark have announced that they’re working with The Void and other immersive, location-based virtual reality companies to create experiences in their theaters.
“Really it’s about what serves the creative goal,” says Bennett. “What I think is really cool is the opportunity to mash up the fast prototyping of the community into one space to get people to play. It isn’t just VR. There’s also new forms of play and arcades that are possible and interactive audience participation for content creation.”
See the full story here; https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/26/location-based-virtual-reality-is-increasing-its-footprint-in-the-u-s/
The birth of the Universal Digital Profile
One key article is the right to personal data portability. In a nutshell, it states that users of a service can request their personal data to be transferred to another provider, without hindrance (read: in the format the other provider requests). This means that if you are no longer happy using a social network, you can switch to another one and have all of your personal data (profile, pictures, messages, posts, likes…) sent to the new provider. It’s the same idea as being able to keep your phone number when you change carrier, but applied to all of your personal data.
Although the definition of what constitutes your personal profile is still being debated (is it just the data you uploaded, or all the data that was derived from it? Does it include metadata?), it is safe to say that a big part of your online identity will soon be transferable across multiple providers.
As these data transfer requests become more and more common, companies will necessarily want to minimize the effort it takes to comply. The only logical thing to do to avoid having to convert data into each provider’s format is to eventually agree on standardized formats for personal data and APIs used to access them.
As this Universal Digital Profile (UDP) starts becoming mainstream, an entire new economy will emerge, from personal data clouds to personal identity aggregators or data monetization platforms.
See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/22/the-birth-of-the-universal-digital-profile/
Virtual reality and blockchain are taking art to the next level
Then, of course, there’s the artwork that doesn’t exist at all, neither in this world nor a virtual one: Kevin Abosch, who famously sold a real-life photograph of a potato in 2016 for €1 million (HK$9.65 million), this Valentine’s Day sold the concept of a rose for US$1 million worth of cryptocurrency to a group of 10 collectors. The Forever Rose is an ERC20 token called ROSE on the Ethereum blockchain that is based on Abosch’s photograph of a rose. In other words, the artwork doesn’t physically exist, nor even have a virtual visual representation.
“Potato #345 and Forever Rose pose questions pertaining to identity, existence and value. They are both proxies. The former for the human experience and the latter for love,” Abosch says.
“The Forever Rose, however, is further abstracted from the photographic representation in that it doesn’t exist in a physical sense. It is the result of using blockchain technology to create a virtual proxy of the photographic work.”
....In other words, art should be put to the same scrutiny, whether it uses advanced technology or primitive tools – pigment and paper.
“Art goes beyond technology when it conveys messages and poetry, questions and emotions, dialogue and action.”
See the full story here; http://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2145198/virtual-reality-and-blockchain-are-taking-art-next-level
Students develop virtual reality program to help ex-inmates
Graphic and industrial design students at the University of Illinois have created “immersive reality scenarios” to help prison inmates on the verge of release navigate the world outside.
Scenarios include navigating public transportation, paying for gas at the pump and ordering from a fast-food restaurant’s digital kiosk.
See the full story here; http://fox2now.com/2018/05/28/students-develop-virtual-reality-program-to-help-ex-inmates/
Oculus Go Porn: Adult Industry Has High Hopes for Facebook’s New VR Headset
What’s more, Oculus is shipping the Go with a full-featured web browser. Many providers of adult VR fare, including BadoinkVR (website not safe for work), already stream their content to VR headset browsers. Naughty America went even further, and launched a VR-optimized site (website not safe for work) the day after the Oculus Go went on sale.
For that site, Naughty America is using WebVR, an emerging standard for web-based VR experiences. WebVR is supported by a number of stakeholders, including headset manufacturers and browser makers like Mozilla, with the hopes of making it easier for developers to distribute immersive content that works on a wide variety of devices. Porn producers could be one of the earliest beneficiaries of the technology, since they are shut out of traditional app stores.
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/oculus-go-porn-adult-videos-optimized-for-go-1202820066/
‘Immersive’ virtual reality exhibit to show the lives of immigrants to Maine
By Seth Koenig, BDN Staff • Portland-based Big Room Studios and the Yarn Corp. are holding a showing of their virtual reality production “A Shared Space” Friday in the city’s Congress Square from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The production is billed as an “immersive 360-degree experience” that tells the story of two friends who grew up in the world’s largest refugee camp in Kenya, and have since made their way to Lewiston.
At the Friday showing, members of the public will be invited to wear headsets and navigate through 13 short videos displaying parts of the immigrant friends’ lives.
See the full story here: https://bangordailynews.com/2018/05/24/news/portland/immersive-virtual-reality-exhibit-to-show-the-lives-of-immigrants-to-maine/