”The tech industry has made itself dependent on exploiting user privacy”

In late February, Mobile World Congress takes place in Barcelona. One of the participants, Swedish data ownership start-up Zynapp, will host an event that will discuss the status quo in Silicon Valley, and current business models that deliberately erodes the human right to privacy.

Mobile World Congress has been named the biggest tech-fest in the western hemisphere. This year, more than 2,400 companies will travel to Barcelona in order to promote their business, product, vision or solution. Not everyone is pleased with the current development in tech, certainly not Zynapp, a Swedish start-up focused on data ownership and user privacy:

“Users are no longer in control of their digital identity. The result is that our thoughts and opinions are carefully shaped by algorithms, based on the personal data we so willingly share — solely in order to serve corporate interests”, Tomas Olsson, EVP of Zynapp, says.

Sustainable alternatives

New technologies and exciting innovations have made our every-day-lives a lot easier. We order food with the touch of a button, travel anywhere at any time and socialize around the clock. In order for apps and services to stay relevant, our personal information, or “metadata”, is packaged, analyzed and used. According to Tomas, the industry consistently takes the liberty of monetizing peoples personal lives:

“The tech industry has made itself dependent on exploiting user privacy. Our platform is an alternative to unsustainable business models that hollows our free will”, Tomas continues.

Swedish Pavilion event

Zynapp was invited by Business Sweden in collaboration with The Embassy of Sweden in Madrid, to exhibit in the Swedish Pavilion during Mobile World Congress. They will host an event on Wednesday the 27th, to discuss the new paradigm of data ownership and user privacy.

“We are really excited to be one of the exhibitors in the Swedish Pavilion, and to get the opportunity to share our view on what we believe to be the most important topic in tech today: People’s right to online privacy”, Tomas ends.