We’ve been talking about the broken data economy. We’ve shown you what real ownership looks like. Now let’s get specific: what power do you actually have right now? The answer is three. Three non-negotiable, transformative powers that you didn’t know you possessed. They’re called data sovereignty. They’re fundamental to your digital freedom, and they’re the reason Big Tech exists at all. For decades, platforms have built their empires by denying you these powers. Today, that changes.

Right now, your data flows through platforms that dictate the rules. They own the relationship. They own your data. You own nothing. But data sovereignty changes that equation. It’s not hypothetical. It’s not coming. It’s here. And once you understand these three powers, you’ll understand why platforms built on extraction are so desperate to keep you from claiming them. This isn’t philosophy. It’s practical power. It’s yours to claim.

Power 1: Control

Right now, you click “agree” to terms of service you’ll never read, and then a company owns a copy of your data forever. Revoke? Not really. Delete? Maybe, if you ask nicely and wait three months. Granular control over what specific data goes where? Forget it. You get an all-or-nothing choice: accept their entire data collection apparatus or don’t use the service.

With data sovereignty, you control at the source. Not the platform. Not regulators. You. You decide who sees what. You grant access to your location data, but only on Tuesdays. You grant access to your browsing history for one specific marketing campaign, then revoke it. You share your health data with a researcher, but for a limited time window. You decide. The data stays yours. Someone wants your browsing history? You say yes or no. Someone wants your health data? Same thing. This isn’t permission that expires. This is permission you control, actively, all the time.

This is what GDPR calls the “right to access” and the “right to erasure”. GDPR gives you the legal right to these powers. But GDPR requires regulatory enforcement. Someone has to complain. Someone has to investigate. Someone has to sue. With data sovereignty and decentralised identity, you don’t need regulators. You enforce it yourself. The data lives with you, not with them. Companies access it only when you explicitly say so. No hidden agreements. No terms buried in small print. Just you, in control.

No locked-in silos. No data hostages locked in corporate vaults. No switching costs because you lose all your history. Just pure control.

Power 2: Transparency

Tech companies love opacity. They love that you can’t see their algorithms. You don’t know how they classified you. They might have labeled you as “high-income” or “vulnerable to scams” or “politically radical”. You don’t know which of your data points triggered which decision. You’re a ghost in their machine. An input. A data point. A variable in their profit equation.

With data sovereignty and decentralised identity, the fog clears. You see every access. Who accessed your data? When did they access it? What did they do with it? Why did they access it? Full audit trail. Not a “privacy policy” hidden behind terms of service. Not a “we might be using this for this”. An actual log. Timestamps. Purpose codes. Proof. You know exactly what’s happening to your information at every moment.

This kills the algorithmic black box. The W3C DID specification creates the framework for this kind of verifiable, auditable interaction. Every data access is cryptographically signed. Tamper-proof. You don’t need to trust the platform. You can verify what they did, when they did it, and why. You can audit your own data in real time.

No hidden algorithms. No invisible operations. No guessing. Just truth.

Power 3: Monetisation

Your data is worth billions. Not to you. To them. Google, Meta, TikTok, Amazon, Microsoft. They extract it. They refine it. They package it. They sell it. They build empires on it. You get “free” email. You get “free” social media. You get “free” cloud storage. That’s the bargain: your data for their services. Except it’s not a bargain. It’s a trap.

Here’s what you didn’t know: that deal is optional now. With data sovereignty, when someone uses your data, you get paid. Not through a “free” service with hidden ads. Directly. A company wants to train an AI model on your data? Pay you. A marketer wants access to your preferences and browsing history? Pay you. A researcher wants your anonymised health data? Pay you. The relationship flips. You’re not the product. You’re the vendor. You’re the data provider. You control the transaction.

Look at where Big Tech’s revenue actually comes from. Meta reported 98% of revenue from advertising in 2024. Google? 80% from advertising. That advertising revenue is built entirely on your data. Your behaviour. Your interests. Your location. Your attention. Your secrets. Right now, you see none of it. A platform makes $10,000 from your data and gives you back a $5 service. That’s not a bargain. That’s extraction.

With direct monetisation through data sovereignty, the power shifts. You decide the price. You decide the buyer. You decide the duration. You decide the use case. You decide the terms. No platform middleman. No extraction. Your data, your rules, your earnings.

Why Big Tech Doesn’t Want You to Have These Powers

These three powers don’t just inconvenience Big Tech. They destroy its moat. They tear down the walls that protect its monopoly.

The entire business model of modern tech platforms rests on your powerlessness. Control? They own it. You own nothing. Transparency? They hide it. You can’t see their algorithms. You can’t audit your data. You can’t prove what they did with it. Monetisation? They keep it. All of it. This asymmetry is the foundation of their profit. If you have control, they can’t exploit you. If you have transparency, you can’t be manipulated. If you have monetisation, the “free” extraction model collapses.

This is why they fight data sovereignty. This is why they lobby against regulation that gives you rights. This is why they bury privacy settings three layers deep. Not because it’s hard to implement. Because they don’t want you to have it. They don’t want you to have control. They don’t want you to see what they’re doing. They don’t want you to get paid.

Decentralised identity makes all three powers possible. And that terrifies them. Because once you can control your data, see what’s happening to it in real time, and get paid for it, the extraction model becomes unsustainable. They can’t compete on lock-in anymore. They can’t compete on information asymmetry. They can’t compete on free services subsidised by your unpaid labour. They’ll have to compete on actual value. On actual service. On actual innovation. Not on lock-in. Not on surveillance. Not on extraction.

They’re not afraid of the technology. They’re afraid of you having power.

The Shift Is Happening

These aren’t theoretical powers. They’re not some utopian future. The infrastructure exists right now. Decentralised identity standards are implemented. Zero-knowledge proofs are live. Blockchain-based data marketplaces are operating. Open identity protocols are scaling. The tools are here. The technology is proven.

The only question left is whether you claim them. Whether you demand data sovereignty. Whether you opt out of the extraction economy and opt into the ownership economy.

If you’ve been following this series, you already know that the current data economy is broken. You already understand that your data is making billions and you see none of it. You understand that this is by design, not accident. That the extraction model is intentional. That the companies benefiting from it will fight to preserve it. Now you know the specific powers you have to change it. Control. Transparency. Monetisation. Not wishes. Not hopes. Real, actionable, implementable powers. Powers you can exercise right now.

Data sovereignty isn’t about building the perfect alternative system. It’s about giving you the freedom to own the system you choose to use. To decide the terms. To control the flow. To capture the value. Your data, your rules, your earnings.

Follow ONTO Wallet to learn what these powers look like in practice.