The Facebook

Facebook and it's actions around user data have come into focus just in time. It's not as though we the users were unaware that we trade our personal data in exchange to use social media or that data sets in which our information fits into allows Facebook to turn in cracking profits. Sure, we've seen Facebook under the microscope many a time before, in particular regard to privacy terms, but what we've watched arise this month is a truly devastating moment for the social media powerhouse that has manifest itself into the #deletefacebook movement.

Now if you asked me if I could imagine my university life without "The Facebook" I would tell you "no chance". Had I not been hooked into the social media platform it would have been a whole lot more work to keep track of social events or yet alone, organise them. In spite of that, just like my university days , things have moved on and there's a high possibility lots of people have been mulling over deleting their Facebook profiles even before the breaking of this latest dose of news. Myself included, I can certainly attest.

Just prior to Facebook's "Zuckerberg headache milkshake" Pillar project released their updated roadmap detailing the current status and ETAs of it's line of crypto wallets. Pillar is important as it will capitalise on GDPR(General Data Protection Regulation) to give users the control over their data that has been absent for too long.

GDPR? What is it? When does it drop?

GDPR specifies how consumer data should be used and protected. It's breakthrough was it's adoption by the European parliament in 2016 but will be fully enforceable in May of 2018. It applies to everyone involved in processing data about individuals in the context of selling goods and services to citizens in the EU, regardless of whether the organisation is located within the EU. That last part is the kicker. Organisations which aren't located within the EU are still subject to GDPR when they are servicing EU citizens.

Pillar Roadmap 2.0 and the Grandma wallet

Pillar has a series of wallets releasing in 2018(those can be observed in roadmap 2.0) but the wallet which has me arguably most excited is the aptly named "Grandma wallet". The aforementioned wallet is being built with ease of use in mind through exceptional UX/UI which we don't have in the current crypto wallet landscape. The Grandma wallet will allow anyone(I.e. your mother, your father; your grandmother) with basic smartphone ability to download the wallet and start sending and receiving cryptocurrency seamlessly.

Pillar's David Siegel has said he expected the development of these wallets to be a little further a long than they are now. Delays are expected in tech however and it can be argued keeping operations transparent is most important. Pillar is doing that by updating their roadmap and keeping the community informed. When projects do this the entire process of is maintained tidily.

The culmination of the backlash against Facebook and Pillar's roadmap 2.0 was inadvertently but aptly timed. The two are symbolic of the rapid progress being made in this space and roadmap 2.0 is an informative indication of the direction we are taking in the changing way we manage our data.