Why it’s important to verify brands and citizens are real

Why it’s important to verify brands and citizens are real 700 700 StJohn Deakins

Real, harmonious data sharing

CitizenMe is passionate about enabling you to unlock the value of your data on your terms. This value can take many forms. In the current CitizenMe app the types of value that you can unlock include real insights about how your opinions compare to others and revelations about your neighbourhood. You can even make predictions about your personality based on your twitter or Facebook behaviour.  

You can also choose to transact your valuable data with others, as opposed to businesses making money from your data without you knowing. Right now, you can either gift data to charities that you love, or you can trade your data with a brand for cash. All this is in addition to fun quickfire polls and personal insight surveys.  

How we’re different

Brands spend billions each year trying to understand their customers. With CitizenMe they can talk directly with real people like you and  pay you directly via the CitizenMe app. This means you can start to earn what is rightfully yours.

The great thing is, both you and the brand stay anonymous or ‘cloaked’ by default.  CitizenMe then vouches for the integrity of the trade on behalf of both the buyer (the brand) and the seller (you). The benefit for you, is that we verify the brand you sell your ‘cloaked’ data to is a real company and that it won’t do anything shady with it. We also vouch for you, confirming to the brand that you are a real person trading real personal data – not a computer bot or a zombie app on a smartphone in a ‘click farm’.

How do we do it?

To make these promises we do a variety of automated ethical checks on both parties, checking for unusual data patterns. We also make sure that the instant payout to your PayPal account is going to the real you and not someone else. To do this, PayPal provides CitizenMe with a “Verified Account” confirmation before the transaction is made. To be able to make this promise to us, PayPal asks their customers to add verified bank account details to their account.  This is known in the banking industry as the ‘Know Your Customer’ guarantee.

This doesn’t currenty work for people who don’t have bank accounts. But, it does mean that we are able to authenticate our citizens and we have plans to expand payout options so that everyone can enjoy CitizenMe. But for now, it’s a great way of building a community based on integrity and truth from the beginning. One that you should definitely be a part of!

StJohn Deakins

StJohn founded CitizenMe with the aim to take on the biggest challenge in the Information Age: helping digital citizens gain control of their digital identity. Personal data has meaning and value to everyone, but there is an absence of digital tools to help people realise its value. With CitizenMe, StJohn aims to fix that. With a depth of experience digitising and mobilising businesses, StJohn aims for positive change in the personal information economy. Oh… and he loves liquorice.

All stories by: StJohn Deakins

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