John Izaguirre of ONTOLOGY

John Izaguirre of ONTOLOGY

John Izaguirre of  ONTOLOGY

What does privacy mean to you? I used to think it was just about protecting my social security number and driver’s license information. I realized I was only concerned about identity theft and had no idea that it was so much more than that. It’s clear to me that most people are mainly concerned with these two pieces of identification being compromised when it comes to identity and privacy. But, think about how many times you’ve given out your personal information since the internet came into existence. You’ve signed up for social media accounts, email accounts, apps, purchased stuff online for yourself or your kids and family with your credit card, used search engines like Google, yahoo and Bing that record your every move, etc, etc, etc. To make matters worse for us, all of these companies that get our information make money from it; our data is monetized and we don’t get a single penny for something that belongs to us. Not to mention, the more our data is shared, bought and sold, the more our privacy and identity is compromised. So, what if we flipped the script and took back the rights to our data, and decided how much we wanted to share and sell for a profit? These companies would be knocking down our doors begging for our data like zombies looking for a corpse. Ontology (www.ont.io) is a company that is using blockchain technology to do just that. We invited John Izaguirre from Ontology to talk with us on, So What About Crypto, to show us exactly how they are doing this while protecting our privacy and identity at the same time. John reveals Ontology is teaming up with a German car company to achieve a higher level of identification and privacy, as well as giving people a way right now to make money from their own data.


Episode 9 – StreamYard John Izaguirre ONT 082620

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

bill deignan, elsa ramon, John Izaguirre, Blockchain, people, technology, companies, decentralized, platform, tokens, ontology, share, identity,digital economy

SPEAKERS

Elsa Ramon, Bill Deignan, John Izaguirre

Elsa Ramon 0:00
And we’re live. Hi, everyone. So what about crypto back with you today if you’re back with us, thank you very much. We appreciate it. You know, Bill this morning when I was getting ready to come here and do the podcast, I was thinking about

Bill Deignan 1:20
I kind of feel like people are having trouble understanding why this is such a big deal, blockchain and Bitcoin and everything related to it, that they start learning about these things, privacy and that kind of stuff, to first to get into why this is so important. Well, of course, and, you know, just as a, as a civilization, we’re in a transition, you know, an amazing transition, I think.

I believe, you know, privacy is a human right. But we’re faced with new paradigms, about what privacy means, you know, big data in the past. It’s even the past.

Two years, the amount of data that’s being leveraged and used with AI, and how it affects us in many ways, sometimes in ways we can’t even comprehend or aren’t aware of, I think for most of us, so I think we’re at the stage where people don’t even really know what privacy is for them or should mean for them. And I don’t even know if we’ve decided that as a as a civilization, we’re in this middle zone of seeing what the lack of privacy can mean for us. In both good and bad ways, I suppose.

I know, personally, you know, I’m a paradigm, I’m a paradox, so to speak, you know, because I, you know, I use AI and big data in my business. And but I don’t want anybody to know anything about me. Right? So that’s, uh, you know, I wrestled with that all the time. I’m like, you know, there’s kind of a

Got two sides of that coin, I suppose. And I think

the way that the Googles of the world have leveraged data, in many ways, can be a very positive things and thing and has been, but that’s that creepy feeling to have. Oh my god, creepy feeling everything where I go every Friday looking at all of these that that’s bothersome. So

I think, you know, I’m anxious to talk to john, from ontology today on this podcast, because I think they’re doing things that are a little, you know, harnessing big data, leveraging it, finding ways to, you know, for people to build with their platform, and, and communicate with other platforms. And I think they see a vision of the future that and how that can be used, and it seems pretty apparent to me, they’re leveraging it in a big way with big companies of the world to you know, make what I hope is

Really good use of it

Elsa Ramon 4:01
right and and and have us be more informed john EC gay with ontology is joining us and you guys are tackling this very issue which is why we wanted to talk to you today because I really feel like myself included until I started learning about a blockchain in this whole space. My my idea of privacy and protecting my identity was so very limited. You know, we all became very aware of how vulnerable vulnerable we are. During the identity theft era. We worried about our social security numbers and our driver’s licenses and things. basic stuff like that, and worried about keeping those secure so that somebody couldn’t open accounts in your name and credit cards and things of like, but it’s much more than that. It is much bigger than people can even imagine what is known about them each and Have a visual person and and what is put out there to companies and what kind of data companies have on all of us?

John Izaguirre 5:09
Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much, guys for having me. It’s a it’s a true pleasure in definitely, data is becoming a very interesting topic not only for companies but also for individuals. Now, of course, as you mentioned before, large corporations were the first one to recognize the value of data, right? And mostly because of the profit that the data represents for the companies but now these individuals and what I would like to call the younger generation, I’m turning 34. I’m starting to feel a bit you know, bit older But I see that the younger generation are starting to take care of what they believe is their right at least digitally to exercise their digital rights and what it means to be online and how you can protect that data, how you can protect what you share. I think that has a profound value theoretically, on and philosophically on how we are approaching in how we’re dealing the new economy in the 21st century, the digital economy. And this is what we at ontology are trying to build, are trying to build a mechanism and we’re trying to build frameworks and protocols on how to protect individuals data companies, data In even machines data, but also how to create that breach, so all of the parties can make a relationship in exchange that data in those components and Okay, why not make a profit, but everyone is on the same page. So it is a hard task. But blockchain technologies enabling that, and also cryptography and consensus algorithms which we might be able to discuss later. All of them together are making these possible. Without it, I think it will be. I wouldn’t say impossible, but you will definitely make the road even even harder.

Elsa Ramon 7:48
Well, I’m glad you feel that the younger generation, I mean, beyond millennials, Gen. z. In particular, because my kids are a part of that.

And I’m Gen X. So I, part of that whole Revolution of, wow, the internet. And, and you know, everybody just jumped on and piled on. And nobody was thinking about privacy and data and all that kind of stuff. This was like this novel thing, this is the amazing way that is going to change our lives. We all recognize that at the time and, and you know, I was in college when all that started happening. We got email and internet and all that kind of stuff. And it was great. I don’t think anyone thought of

the consequences that we’re seeing today and we’ve seen since the internet and everything with it has grown. So I’m really glad to hear that you feel the younger generation recognizes all of this stuff. They’re learning from our mistakes and the things we’ve learned along the way to protect their identity because I i harp on that with my kids.

All the time they’ve known nothing different. And same with Bill. Our kids have grown up. Totally. We’re in a world with iPhones and internet and everything else that comes with it. So it’s extremely important. But one of the things I didn’t understand, until I started learning was one I started learning when I learned about blockchain about how companies why data, our data, as individuals is so important to them. It’s, it’s been referred to as I think, if I’m correct, like digital gold, not just, you know, but it’s, it’s when they mined our data, it’s like mining gold, and they can sell it and resell it, and everybody makes money off of our personal information, except us. And it’s our information. So not only is all of our information being put out there to who knows why And where, but people have monetized it and and no one is benefiting more than the companies who take it. And when I started learning about that, I’m like, wait a minute, it’s this is all personal stuff about me, I should be entitled to how much I want released, how much I want to sell to make money from my own data. We’re not at that point yet. And, and the thought is that blockchain could help people, harness their own data, take control of their own data, and flip the script and say to companies like the Googles of the world, if you want to mine my data, if you want some of my data, it’s gonna cost you this much.

And we put things very interesting.

John Izaguirre 10:48
Absolutely. Yeah, I agree with you. And I think it’s very interesting how you narrow it down. You mentioned something very relevant which is mistakes in the mistakes that we and perhaps the older generation have done in the last, let’s call it last 20 years. However, you know, I’m, I used to be quite the pessimist, right? And, and I used to skate. I used to do graffitis I used to be a bit of an anarchist when I was 15 1617. So by teen years, I was a bit against the system and so on. And nowadays in retrospective, I’m starting to see it a bit differently. Um, I think that first of all, internet as a technology is still brand new, if you think about it, right. So if you look at human history, and the achievements of the human history, and let’s say the last 500 years, you narrow it down to the Internet, and he’s actually still a very, very on technology, steel, we’re trying to learn how to utilize the internet itself, right. So on top of the internet, as a technology as a tool, several layers have been built over these last 20 years, 25 years. One of these layers has been the communication technology, which we know as social media platforms. This case you can, you know, I don’t want to name them, I think we all know it. But these social media platforms, I think they’re not the evil corporation that sometimes we tend to believe they are. Even though what they have done in the past isn’t the most objective thing to do or the more humane thing to do, I have to admit that. However, I also don’t think that they have an evil agenda on how to capitalize on people’s data and just exploit it. Um, have become a bit of a positive individual to that regard. I think that at the same time as we’re learning as individuals, as a society, companies are also learning how to deal with the issues that that harness data and make a profit out of it. So I, for one, believe that the European Union in these cases have done a great job promoting the GDPR law. And that means that social media platforms and technology platforms now at least have to be clear and ask the individual if he or she’s right, he or he or she’s able and willing to share sensitive data, meta data or what I like to call alpha data, which in this case is your address, date of birth, sex, gender, and so on. Right. So these things The first step that a government or supranational government has taken now California has is on it as well in states, and I think the world is reacting positively towards it. And also,

Bill Deignan 14:13
I want to ask you about that. I agree. Yeah, I think it’s a positive step. But is it really making a difference? I mean, to the individual. You know, obviously, it does hold businesses accountable for data. And, you know, as you know, we in in our agency, we create websites and advertising and the like, and, you know, we all have to comply with those new GDPR rules and what California is doing. So that part’s good. And helps I think with data breaches and the like, but on the on the personal level for the individual, when it comes to the point of the individual having the ability to decide if they want that data You know, dispersed and sold and in the metadata that you refer to? Are people really even grasping that they have that ability to do it? Are they even carrying? Me? What in your business? Are you noticing with that?

John Izaguirre 15:16
Yeah, so answering straightforward, I would say, no, it hasn’t achieved that have an impact. Referring to GDPR, or the law data in California, I think is the first step. Let’s, let’s take it from there. It’s just as a first step into the right direction. Now, when it comes down to blockchain, and smart contracts and cryptography and how these technologies are helping on preserving the individuals data, and educating societies on how to protect their own data, I think We are still on a very early stage. And also in terms of the technology development. I think what blockchain has achieved in this regard in the last two years to three years is remarkable. However, we’re still trying to figure out how to a educate people and be make people actually feel accountable for their own data. And we are figuring out that one of the one of the one of the straightforward ways is to incentivize humans to incentivize societies on to protect their data. And the way you do that, well, first of all, you have to build a community around the concept of data in the concept of preserving and being careful and with your data. How you do that. Well, you know, it’s, it’s complicated because it’s kind of the chicken and egg question, right? You’re trying To educate them at the same time, you have to incentivize the community. At the same time, you have to build the technology and at same time you have to stay, you know, your cash flow has to remain positive, so you can keep on going. But we we are figuring out on from token economics perspective. So once people are on entering the ontology framework ecosystem, by the way, you can do it by going to a omt.io. You have access to a platform, a collaborative platform that will teach you first of all, what is blockchain? What is a smart contract and why that technology matters when you’re dealing with data with your personal data. Secondly, the way you create a community is through that education but then comes incentives and in this case We are rewarding the communities with our token economics, which happens to be native tokens of our chain, or when T and o and g. when you engage yourself into that decentralized identity framework, and you execute only with the data you want to share online, you start to earn rewards based on what you’re sharing what you’re willing to share the access that those third parties are having. You get rewarded with those tokens. Now, if you’re familiar with the token economy, you will find that you can actually make profit out of these tokens. You can go to an exchange to a centralized exchange. You can exchange those tokens for any other tokens or by using our ontology wallet, which happens to be an app as well called on top AP, you can also just go to any shop and basically you can you can buy goods with those tokens nowadays. So that’s the point where technology has advanced dramatically from understanding data, understanding blockchain, smart contracts, cryptography, anchoring in that framework in having access to the incentives and also exchanging those incentives for goods, rewards or anything that you would like to have in real life. Right? So it’s not an imperial concept anymore.

Elsa Ramon 19:35
So this Okay, so the way I see in this case, the tokenization of things it’s kind of like a symbiotic relationship where both the I don’t want to call the big company data miners parasites but it’s where host in a fight are our Right, both benefiting, right? It’s right. So instead of one having the power or the other having the power, meaning us having complete control of our data, or a company having complete control of our data, it’s a bit of a win win where the companies still have your data, but you get to decide how much you want to engage with that data. And you’re making tokens money that can be exchanged for goods, services and other tokens, right? I’m, you know, I’m breaking this down correctly, or is that oversimplifying?

John Izaguirre 20:38
You’re, you’re no, you’re breaking it down correctly. But keep in mind that also that’s only one of the things that you can do. Right? So for example, you can also if you if you’re familiar will I think everyone is familiar with opening an email account or opening you know, any kind of a digital account, you will always have to share Your information, your your data, right you have to share your address, you have to share your gender, your name, etc. Right? And you have to use multiple identities online. I believe that a regular human being on the western world nowadays, at least has over 50 Digital identities online. Okay? So what happens is that your information is everywhere, and you don’t have control on that information any longer. Right? So you don’t know what’s what’s going on who has access to your actually your home address. And actually, that matters because you want privacy. You don’t want people to know exactly where you leave and knock on your door for whatever reason, right? So you can actually create a decentralized identity that will allow you to only share the piece of information that a you want to share and be that company. Whether is an email company is asking you for, for given to them. And that’s the only piece of information that you will be able to share. So that’s one case. Also, we have these reusable KYC. So every time that you want to open a more straightforward channel, say a bank account, for example, or an insurance account, right, they’re going to ask for a KYC know your client. And what happens is that again, you have to share all these gigantic amount of information, you have to go in through a phone call or a video call and etc. So it’s time consuming. And again, you don’t have control over your data, you’re just handing it over to whatever third party verifier out there. What a D ID a decentralized identity achieve is again, you can use one piece of data, one piece of information and you can reuse it as on many platforms as you want and you will We’ll always have control on who’s using it for what purpose and what you’re sharing. And these will be visible because you’re working with an open source blockchain as ontology. So everything goes uploaded in the smart contract, which happens to be public. So everyone has access to see that piece of information when it was executed, who is the owner, and who has the right to see it. And it goes is as an anonymous because it’s been encrypted with cryptography technology. So it’s actually once you start to see it in that way, even though now seems harsh or complicated for people to comprehend. I think you don’t have to even worry about the technology behind that anymore. You can just download your D Id use on tow app or any other app and you prefer it to disagree and just follow the steps and you will only take care of one Log in one key to logging into all these third party verifiers. And basically that’s all what you have to care in the future. You don’t have to care about blockchain itself. You don’t have to care about the complicated mathematics behind, or algorithmic technology. So that’s what we’re trying to achieve. So easy ramp for people to use as well.

Bill Deignan 24:21
Well, I can certainly see that being better than sign in with Facebook or sign in with Google. 

Elsa Ramon 24:28
All the time. Well, I mean, they don’t think about it at all. Yeah, sure. Here, cop sign up through Facebook. And I’m starting to realize and people are starting to realize I’m just like everybody else. I’m like, why is that such a bad idea? But now I understand. Holy cow, I’m just, I’m connecting all of these platforms, and they’re all getting my data and, you know, now I feel like it’s totally out of control.

Bill Deignan 24:55
Okay, so with that being said, I’m gonna this is gonna be a pretty long question. So bear with me. But I was looking over your website earlier today and trying to get a little feel for you know, OMT it’s a very comprehensive project. And you guys, in my opinion look like you’re, you know, doing more than just developing a blockchain. You’re setting it up for serious development, utilizing blockchain, I think more importantly, and and exchanging between blockchains but you’ve got a really cool video on your website, you know, with a young lady sharing her, right you’re sharing with her her friends on her phone, and she’s getting in her Tesla. She’s using her face and her ID, her digital ID I guess to access getting in the Tesla, driving, all of that information is being recorded and exchanged with some database of blockchain. She can. She’s getting points you know, Her her trust score is growing. And she gets out. She’s now secured her Tesla through the blockchain. She’s also now put it up for rent to share if she can share it, we’re not right buddy that also has that trust, that trust score could just come along and pay her automatically through the platform, user Tesla for the afternoon, bring it back all of these things. All of that stuff seems, you know, to most of us very futuristic. But we all know that that’s what you know, in this blockchain world where we see this as all being possibilities. So and we and we’ve talked about how using this digital ID being a better version of the Facebook version, because we know that when you use that Facebook one that Facebook gets access to all this other information about you. That’s the scary part about what you guys are showing even though it’s very cool and slick. It still makes a person like me go what Wait a minute, is there a way this then becomes a instead of a trust score a like a social score like China is employing right now? And people get scared of that like, at what level is this trust score? Can it be used against you and shut you out and D platform you so to speak or marginalize you or disenfranchise you?

John Izaguirre 27:28
That is that is actually a fantastic phenomenal question.

And you know, that example that is being shown on the video is for the automotive industry and also the kind of the, the connection between IoT and in automobiles nowadays. So, the out immobile industry for at least the last few Five years has become our raw data marketplace, since they are collecting all these impressive gigantic amount of data from the end customers, which in this case will be the the person or the owner of the car, and what kind of data right because people sometimes think, well, I’m just driving what kind of data? Will I you know, produce? Well, a lot. So first of all, this, where are you going? This nation from point A to point B. Second of all, where on earth are you driving in? Why? Third? Well, what happens when you’re driving do you stop at a gas shop? Do you stop at a McDonald’s? Do you make phone calls with whom are you talking? What kind of music Are you listening to and and And then right, so the outer mobiel has become much more than a means of movement, it has become a vehicle for data. Now, what the video is trying to show is that for for IoT devices to keep on working in the future, these will run as in a peer to peer network, a peer to peer network guarantees, there is no third party kind of controlling or filtering that data in obtaining the profit out of it. Right. So you are the Absolute Owner of the data that you are producing, and you are the only one able to share it or actually monetize it. All right. So that’s the first part that we’re trying to achieve. Here the second part and I think you are very right when it comes down to scoring, which were developing these scoring technology. What scoring is trying to achieve in here is mostly that the digital economy, we believe is moving again into a more so do anonymous or peer to peer networks as an integration of networks, where humans are the ones who are going to be taking the decision on their economic well being. Now, that being said, for you, in the future, to be able to ask for a loan or to be able to ask for a credit, right, you will have to have a credit score as we have nowadays in in our current economic system. So if you go to chase or if you go to Bank of America, you have to prove that you have the means of payment, and that your credit score is in for requesting a loan or a mortgage or anything related, right, so these will have to happen in the future in the digital economy for you to borrow an X amount of tokens or an X amount of let’s call it Bitcoin for just using an example. There has to be a, a rank, there has to be something indicating that you, as an individual have the means of repaying that x y set amount that you’re requesting. Now, the interesting thing the cool part in here is that only the data that these lending platform is requesting will be shared. For example, you asked for a credit last year for X amount and you paid it in 90 days right so these payment was executed was uploaded in the blockchain, old green, good to go get the credit and that will be the only piece of information They’re not going to ask you for proof of work, or they’re not going to ask you for where do you leave, or if you have another house that you can, you can put as collateral, they’re not going to ask you for sensitive information about your family, your wife, your children, your spouse, whatever. So these, this is what we’re trying to achieve in here for a decentralized score system, where only the data that the lender is requesting and the lending platform is trying to get, but nothing else will leave without your consent.

And, yeah, it is it is a it is a complicated roadmap that we have. But we strongly believe that blockchain technology can help solving these problems, and actually creating an ecosystem where all the parties can access that verified data securely. And this is our aim.

Elsa Ramon 32:56
So that if people were trying to learn About what blockchain technology can technically or potentially do. When you see an example like this, it becomes clear. Just it’s mind blowing actually how it can affect other parts of our lives. Banking, like you said, drive even driving, how it can impact different industries and how it can make impacts to our advantage. Just as the regular people, you know, we haven’t had access to things like this. We haven’t had access even to our own data data to monetize it. And this potentially, this technology is going to put that in into our hands. And I think once people learn about how our data is being mined, and how It’s monetized and how everybody’s making money from it, but us with our own data, you start to see the value of this technology of blockchain and how it could potentially make our lives that much better.

John Izaguirre 34:18
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, it creates such a robust and trustworthy ecosystem for payments for settlements for vehicle identification, as it were seen in the video for data sharing for protocol of data sharings for Oracle’s integrating that off chain data into the on chain data. I think the technology itself is remarkable in decentralized identity has been our core business verticals since day one and we’re trying to achieve that Label he, that we can, we can become kind of the pioneers, if we’re not already but the pioneers in the industry, but also educate the society on why these issues matter more than anything else at the moment, because data, as you mentioned, right at the very beginning of the interview has become the digital gold. And I think this is this is this is worth it to explain and to dig a bit deeper, right. The way that data has become these digital gold is that companies and advertisers mostly on social media platforms, let’s call it like that, which are not social at all. They’re trying or they have achieved these kind of consensus in which we are all consumers and all what they care about. To know your likes, know your dislikes and know your digital behavior so they can keep offering you more products, right? Whether let’s call it Nike or Adidas shoes, right? So they want to know which age group you belong to. What’s your gender? What do you like? What kind of sports do you like? How many friends you have, actually, without many friends? Do you speak on a weekly basis? Are you close your parents or not? Do you have children? How old are your children? What’s your age status? Are you boring?

Elsa Ramon 36:42
When you start thinking of all the little things like that, blowing and that’s all out there.

John Izaguirre 36:48
And so they really they really get in the way they do it. And now this is where the human innovation comes into play. Display actually what social medias have achieved these is remarkable because they have made you I don’t want to use the word slave but sawed off. And they only and they get you, you live to use these platforms because they’re cool because they’re posting great content because you know the cool kids in the block are using it because the superstars are in there. So, you get hooked to it plus they use a lot of algorithm technology to get you addicted to it as well. So, you know, you kind of spend hours looking at these platforms and you are sharing constant inputs, gigantic amount of data. So we have decided at ontology, but also I will say the blockchain community as a whole. We have decided to put a stop to that and say, Well, guys, you’re doing a great job social media platforms. are great for, you know, showcasing and displaying human innovation in pictures. And that’s amazing. But guys, now let’s start taking care of the user’s data and of the company’s data and what you’re doing with that data, how you’re making money with it, why you don’t share a piece of the pie as well, that will be fair. So this is what we’re trying to achieve at ontology. This is what we’re trying to achieve with blockchain technology. And with decentralized identity, decentralized identity frameworks, it’s our,

Bill Deignan 38:32
Your, you know, roadmap. You don’t have to disclose everything, you know, over your plans, obviously. But I would like to think that you’re, you know, obviously, you’ve got to focus on automotives. And do you have any big partnerships in the works that may help onboard people to this type of platform as opposed to in the United States we have a company called Buick you know, it’s a General Motors company. They’ve gotten into Amazing right ad that just came out where people are like, Oh, that’s a great Buick. I love your Buick. It’s like Well, that’s not Oh, yes and Alexa.

Elsa Ramon 39:07
Yeah.

Bill Deignan 39:10
But it’s true. It’s like that car like you mentioned is where so much data can be exchanged and gathered, and you spend so much time in it. So that to me, I agree. the automotive industry looks like an opportunity for you to start onboarding but are you are you are you making inroads? Or do you do have a partnership? Maybe? In Wait, yeah, that could help because I feel like that people they use Alexa because it’s convenient. They don’t really care. They don’t seem to care that it’s can listen in on you. But you know, Amazon did a fantastic job of making it super dirt cheap at Christmas time. So everyone was giving it to each other so that it could show up in your eye. All of that.

Elsa Ramon 39:57
The novelty of it, though. Lexa Play top 40 hits Alexa, what is the definition of this? Alexa? It’s, it’s my parents have it. And I hate it. And I keep asking them to please take it out of their house so that Alexa is listening to everything and they’re recording everything right? And they don’t, they don’t care.

Bill Deignan 40:18
But also we know that this is not going away. Yeah, the convenience of right, the Alexa type devices is not going away. So I see that. Like, I’d like to think that what you guys are doing would be something that if it could be beneficial in ways if it truly is what you say, you know, where you can control who sees what, but I feel like you got to get in some other car really quickly so people get on your platform before Alexa just owns at all.

John Izaguirre 40:54
Yeah, actually, I’m not I’m still not able to disclose the name of the of the German automotive company with whom were launching a groundbreaking blockchain deal and decentralized identity solution do this is this is gonna come out in the next month so stay tuned. But there’s definitely there’s definitely coming a solution to the, to the masses to the industry to the to the end consumers, which are you know, they’re thirsty they’re they’re they’re hungry for solutions as we were talking before, you know people are recognizing that, well a car is not a car anymore, right it is again is a vehicle for data and people are not only realizing that but educating themselves about these matter and about these issues. Now, yes, we’re coming with the solution and yes, we have a grand partner on our side not disclose the name, but um, this is going to be public in the next months. But also, it’s interesting what you were mentioning about Amazon and Alexa. Right? I mean, you know, honestly, the technology that these guys have created is absolutely mind blowing. I mean, kudos to Amazon for this ride for creating these piece of technology for making life sometimes a bit easier. Now, the issue is not the product itself. The issue is what is Amazon doing with that data? Right? Is Amazon trying to sell you more products than what you actually need? Why is that? Um, is the American Society actually consuming more because of that reason or not? So I think a study has to be conducted as well on that regard, but I think the Amazons and the Facebook’s and the Googles are recognizing this trend as well. They they acknowledge that blockchain and protecting data and decentralized identity frameworks and self sovereign ID is coming is you cannot stop it. People want it on so they will have to comply with it. That’s the way I see it. There is no way out.

Elsa Ramon 43:25
Yes, I mean, it’s it’s the natural progression of technology. It’s part of our lives were forever intertwined. And, really, I think people when we talk to people like you with companies that are offering these types of services, my goal is to at least try to simplify and educate people simplify the information and educate people on why our privacy and data is so important and why blockchain technology could be A huge game changer for us as individuals and put more power in our hands. So you know that that’s the goal, at least on our end that people understand what’s at stake and and why they should care.

John Izaguirre 44:17
Absolutely, and I think is remarkable the job that you guys are also doing and, you know, this is what what keeps me going forward and pushing forward in the blockchain industry is because exactly people like you, guys, you know, you’re really educating people, you are broadcasting this information. You are, you’re being aware of what’s going on. And I think this is also remarkable, and this is the beauty of, of the blockchain community of the industry of the new technologies is that we’re not looking at age differences anymore. We’re not looking at race or gender where we don’t actually we don’t care about that. We care about in results. We care about protecting societies. We care about information in flux. We care about public education, we care about, you know, people learning how to deal with a 21st century how to deal with a digital economy. And I think the digital economy has become much more than just a few clicks and getting the product delivered to your door. You have to understand people have to understand that there is much more involved. And it’s not all bad. Actually, the self sovereign identity framework enables you and empowers you to become a self sovereign citizen online, with access to your data and with complete power over it, but also, in terms of money in terms of Finance. blockchain is Is is I mean, it’s a complete revolution. And the so called defy decentralized finances. I mean, that’s a world in its own. And this is empowering people to have complete access to their financial situation to their financial roadmaps to their lives to their to their economic lives. You don’t have to rely on a bank anymore. You don’t have to rely on a stablish set of rules dictated by a government that you might not agree with, on the first place. So I think this is empowering to say the least, and I think these belongs to the 21st century. So I’m not that afraid of the Googles anymore. I’m not afraid of Facebook anymore. I’m not afraid of Amazon, Huawei. 10 saying, I think we have the right tools. We have the right technology. We just need to apply it and we’re going to be good.

Bill Deignan 46:58
Well, how do I do it? I mean, I was here About blockchain ID or decentralized ID and how do I do? How do I get my identity on the blockchain? I think, just even Personally, I’ve been like, well, how does that really work? How do I get it on there? control it. I mean, I think it’s probably more simple than think of it in the abstract. So just tell us how we would do that on the ontology platform.

John Izaguirre 47:23
Sure, well as the name user, as I need to be doing is actually pretty straightforward. So you just go to your bone and you download the Antone app. Oh, and to one secret, create your account, which is super straightforward. You will have immediate access to your own ID is how we call the ontology on identification. And once you have that on ID, I mean immediately means that you are the owner of your name off your data. And now you can start controlling third parties. Let’s call it the Googles or social medias, you’re going to control which data you’re going to share with these platforms, right. So if that’s your email and your name, that’s all what you’re going to be sharing. In a third party. Identity anchor is going to verify your data protected by the existing rules and laws from that continent where you find yourself at so if you’re in the States, there is a third party validator that works with a US law that complies with the US law and says okay, the citizen has requested deise identity framework, we give it to him or her and you are basically approved so ontologies only enabling you to use these these frameworks but It’s actually very straightforward. Just download the app, you have immediate access to your own ID. Once you have it, you can claim you’re basically you’re the owner of your data so far online.

Bill Deignan 49:15
I mean, it’s easy to see on the I’ve got your app, and I can see where you set that idea. But I think that next step is the part where we’re, I’m a little fuzzy on, like, where I’m using it, right? So we’re at a stage where there’s really not much of that happening. And so I’m not encountering the need, or if I set this up, will I then see more opportunities to use it?

John Izaguirre 49:38
Absolutely. So once you have the app, for example, and you have your own ID. This is where things get very interesting. So you have your own score as we were talking before. You have your credentials, you have authentication, social authentication, so you can connect your on ID to social media platforms. But also you have access to assets, or digital assets in this case. So at the moment, for example, if you are strong into the token economics and you’re purchasing tokens, you will have access to all of your tokens within the app. You can, you don’t have to share your 16 digits. Key. Anytime that you want to make a transfer to your wallet. You can just use your name or convert it into a name because we’re working with our great partners in the industry on stoppable domains. fantastic team as well. So So yeah, you verify you claim your data, you claim your ID, and you have access to your own score. You can discover all the daps so decentralized applications, you have access to the centralized finance platform. You can exchange tokens, swap tokens, and the list goes on and on. You also have access to non fungible tokens collectible. And these are all protected by your decentralized identity. So you are the owner of your data and you’re only sharing the data you want with these platforms.

Elsa Ramon 51:24
So this is the ontology community. If you’re in and you register this is all possible within this community. Are we going to see other companies that are going to try to emulate what you’re doing and create their own communities as well? And can you be part of multiple communities with your identity?

John Izaguirre 51:49
For sure, I mean, the within the blockchain ecosystem, decentralized identity, decentralized credentials, our domain to say the least. So actually Even universities like brick universities, you know, they can already upload the university credentials and you as a student can claim that your diploma is actually valid. So whenever you’re looking for a job in the future, you can share your diploma information with that company, but you share only the piece of information that they need to know and learn about. So if it’s your grade, you will only share your grade and the name of the university. If you only want to share the name of the university. That’s all what you’re going to be sharing if they’re looking for a KYC. Well, since you already have a KYC validation framework within the oncology app, you will just show exactly what they’re looking for and nothing else and these will be uploaded again as in a smart contract on the chain. Since is a public chain you will always see what you’re sharing In real life, so on the case, actually, you can spin it out

Bill Deignan 53:04
that KYC part. That’s where, like, I just, I can’t stand it to need to show a photo ID and my picture to some stranger in some country. I’m not even sure how to write a name. It does this allow me to just say you don’t need that, buddy. Here’s my ID. That’s all you need.

John Izaguirre 53:28
Right? Yeah, you can, you can definitely do it. So that’s part of a credential. Right? So KYC is just a credential, you’re trying to explain who you are, you are, it’s a proof of who you are. Right? So we call it authentication. So whenever you have your on ID, that provides you with an identity Authentication Service, so that credentials will be uploaded. And this is all what you’re going to be sharing In the future, so we work with these third parties like cfca or shufti. Pro or identity mind global. So these companies will preserve your data safely. And whenever you want to show that on or run that KYC you will just have it already uploaded and that’s all what you’re going to share using the auto app for example, or your on ID. Okay, guys, this is me, these are what you need now, move along.

Bill Deignan 54:32
And but with the guys you’re sharing it with even have the ability to store that.

John Izaguirre 54:39
Yeah, so Exactly. So that’s a very good question. So one of the things that people keep asking is, well, that data will be off chain or on chain. Well, it will be off chain, right, because for you to have an on chain record. Well, you know, blockchain is non transmittable. So it will be You will have to go back into the blocks and manipulate the blocks right? You can see what has been happening as in transaction wise, but you cannot change you cannot codify a block that already happened, that transaction that already happened, right, but a third party validator that works as an off chain can securely and using encryption and secure your data. And once you request that, hey, I need my name, hey, I need my address, press transfer that will just transfer you that piece of information and asking that code. This is what you’re going to be showing to the to the other party requesting that information. And the future looks like that that company that is requesting for your information. In this case, your address will have to give you something in return. Right. It will have to say well, Bill, thank you for providing your info. Thank you for providing your address. Here is a legal token in reward. For your time or your energy and for actually sharing that piece of information. That’s how the digital economy looks like.

Elsa Ramon 56:08
It’s, that’s, I find that fascinating. And when you talk about resumes, you know how many of us can relate to when you’re applying for jobs and how many resumes you send out. Think of what’s on there, your name, address, phone number, your email everywhere, you’ve worked. All the reason that somebody who wants to steal your identity has right at their fingertips, right? So if a job offer says, you know, a potential employer says, I just want to verify that you did graduate where you said you’re graduated from, you can give them access to just that instead of all that information out there floating out there. If you say want to up a bar, and you need to show your ID to prove your 21 here in the united states, right? You show your ID again, that shows your picture, your address, at your height, your weight, everything where you live ever all of that, right on the blockchain, you would be able to just say you give them only what they need, which is proof that you’re 21. And you know, since I’m carded all the time to prove that I’m 21, that that would be very beneficial for me. You guys aren’t laughing? Oh, absolutely,

John Izaguirre 57:27
absolutely. No, I get it. I think but we’re hiring. We’re hiring in the marketing department.

Elsa Ramon 57:37
But But, you know, you start to think about all those times you’ve shared all that stuff, and it’s out there. Absolutely. And you know what, I think when people start thinking about it in those terms, instead of trying to wrap their head around the technology, then they start to realize oh, Gosh, this is not this is not good. I want to do better I want to know how to protect myself much better.

John Izaguirre 58:09
Absolutely, absolutely. And this is what we call a data marketplace, right. So, in theory, we have seen that in the last decade on the the, you know, the growth off data streams, connecting physical world machines, and the digital world has grown exponentially. Now, that what connects them all his data is that stream that constant influx of information and valuable data that creates a gigantic profit for third party companies, in this case, well, social media companies or even, you know, b2b b2c companies. So I, we believe strongly at ontology that blockchain asset technology can provide solutions for a decentralized and is very important for these centralized data storage and data sharing. I think this is this is what we’re trying to achieve asking that data marketplace. And we’re pushing forward for that to happen, regardless of GDPR and ccpa, which is great. And I think again, they have done a great job, remarkable job. But we have to push the boundaries a bit further. And we have to start thinking about this digital world at something real, something that is everywhere. 24 seven, doesn’t sleep doesn’t stop. And there has to be a framework there has to be a protocol, protecting us as citizens, protecting even machines and protecting companies against these. Well, you know, sometimes not so nice individuals. They’re capitalizing on that data.

Elsa Ramon 1:00:04
JOHN and ontology is doing that. It’s a huge step in Thank you regaining our own personal data, putting the power back into our hands. And I’m really excited to see what the company does moving forward. I’m actually more excited to find out what German car companies have teamed up with, because my two favorite cars in the whole world are German, made cars. So I’m hoping that it’s, it’s one of them, because that would be hopefully to experience at What’s that?

John Izaguirre 1:00:43
Hopefully, I mean, I really, really hope so. And if you happen to own one of these cars, well, you know, I’m sure we’re gonna we’re going to find a way on how to snap a picture for you and how to make a very cool Id for yourself and even in the avatar, just to make it a bit cooler just to make your identity a bit a bit shiner.

Elsa Ramon 1:01:09
In fact, a car company know that I am more than willing to drive one of their cars for free and average. It’s not a whatever car it is, it’s an ontology.

John Izaguirre 1:01:25
Exactly.

Exactly. Something like that. That’s actually very, very, very, very interesting. But also, I mean for for making notes of these quite clear, um, you know, some people still see the miracle or the one there, Cade that Tesla has become as a car company. And the what I believe the beauty of Tesla is that they are much more than 100 energy company or a car dealer manufacturer, Tesla is actually a digital company, embracing the digital economy. And they just happen to use a car, in this case for collecting data. Now, I don’t see that as in, you know, in a bad way, I actually find it to be very smart and very well executed. Now, the interesting thing we’ll see, will be to see what Tesla and their founders or their founder do for securing their end users and their customers data, how they’re applying to reward their customers in the future. But I think Tesla isn’t, you know, in the right way, and I believe the whole automobile industry should do the same, I think is their responsibility. Me too. I

Elsa Ramon 1:02:54
love that. Let’s hold their feet to the fire then.

Bill Deignan 1:02:57
Yeah, Tesla’s a natural I think it’s do it. You’re doing But you know, I think if you can get into one of the big Japanese car makers, then we’d write much more adoption more quickly. Hmm. I agree. I agree. It’s a good point.

Elsa Ramon 1:03:11
Well, john, I we can’t thank you enough for spending time with us. Especially. You’re in a beautiful place right now and you’re working remote.

Bill Deignan 1:03:22
So we do appreciate you taking the time. Yeah. an undisclosed location in Greece

Elsa Ramon 1:03:28
in an undisclosed

John Izaguirre 1:03:30
Yes. Hey, guys, I get it. That’s on the blockchain. I’m working which happens to be a gorgeous Island. So whenever you have the time and COVID is over, really just come to Greece, visit their beautiful islands. It’s just phenomenal to work here. And, you know, yeah, I come here.

Elsa Ramon 1:03:52
When COVID is over, I’m running away. Well, he said, Kira, thank you so much again. For your time we really appreciated and, and taking the time to help our listeners learn, because that’s the point of what we do and why we do it. So thank you so much. And we hope you check in with you soon when you do reveal what car company you’re teaming up with.

John Izaguirre 1:04:19
We will and thank you. You’re doing a remarkable job. And, and thank you for everyone listening. I think this is this is something that we have to pay attention to. And yeah, thank you for your time as well. Appreciate it.

Bill Deignan 1:04:33
Yeah. Thanks, john.

Elsa Ramon

Take care, john. My pleasure. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

john izaguirre

https://ont.io/automotive

YouTube Link of Episode : https://youtu.be/FsKn78OT1kc

https://www.adventuresincrypto.tv/


John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre John Izaguirre