Can you give out your data for cash?

Well, a New York-based company, got you; Caden App lets users make money by sharing their personal data

In Summary
  • A New York-based company is investing $15 million (Sh2 billion) to accelerate techniques on how enterprises can access and use consumer data.
  • Those who opt to give their data will then have a passive income stream whenever that data is used.
Consumer user personal data shared through an app can be monetized.
Consumer user personal data shared through an app can be monetized.
Image: HANDOUT

Can you give your personal activity data, such as the movies you watch, where you travel and what you buy from different businesses?

Well, not for free, in exchange, you are given the option to monetize some or all of that information.

Well, a New York-based company is investing $15 million (Sh2 billion) to accelerate techniques on how enterprises can access and use consumer data.

Those who opt to give their data will then have a passive income stream whenever that data is used.

The company, Caden, said it will use the capital to accelerate product development, hiring and go-to-market efforts.

“We intend to transform the consumer data market by creating the most ethical, actionable and valuable data intelligence company in the world,” John Roa, the CEO and founder of the company, said in a press statement published by Venture Beat.

Barely a week ago, the government banned the activities of a crypto tech company that was offering free crypto tokens to Kenyans who agreed to have their eyeball/irises data collected.

Worldcoin, co-founded by US tech entrepreneur Sam Altman, was ordered to stop signing up new users citing data privacy concerns.

The data commissioner has since gone to court to block the activities of the Worldcoin, warning that Kenyans personal data, mined during these operations faced the risk of being erased and modified unless the court intervened to preserve it.

High Court judge Nixon Sifuna ruled that the data already collected by WorldCoin from April last year to August 2023 should be preserved.

World Coin was offering a passive income of Sh7,000 worth of cash in exchange for the data subjects’ biometrics.

Caden advocates for the adoption of ethically-sourced first-party data, addressing the challenge of user control.

Caden, on its website, indicates that it has been helping ordinary people get money through sharing of their data, which it says is very safe.

It says the data is shared through an app. Data sources listed on the website include Netflix, Uber, Spotify, Amazon and Airbnb.

“The App allows consumers to automatically pull in personal activity data, such as the movies they watch, where they travel and what they buy from different businesses,” the company says on its website.

“They are then opt-in to monetize some or all of that information in various privacy-centred ways, creating a safe passive income stream,” it added.

WATCH: The latest videos from the Star