Commonly Asked Questions

Permission was created to put an end to the interruptive, exploitative advertising model that drives today’s web and to give individuals back ownership of their data. The company has developed the infrastructure for a Web3 advertising platform based on permission and value exchange.

Powered by the Permission Token (“ASK”), the platform enables individuals to securely grant permission and monetize their personal data across the digital ecosystem.

Permission’s vision is for ASK to be the most widely used digital reward throughout the advertising ecosystem, enabling users to earn from their data and advertisers to obtain permission, motivate action, and increase ROI.

Ultimately, the ownership of anything is a legal issue. When it comes to physical things, like condos, cars or computers, the law was settled long ago. However, the idea of information ownership is fairly new, and the legislators of the world have only recently taken an interest. The first countries to frame such laws were the countries of the EU, with their General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The fundamental principle of GDPR, and other similar legislation that ensued, is that you own your own data and that any organization that holds your data does so only with your permission.

ASK has a total fixed supply of 100 billion.

Permission Search is a new kind of search engine that enables users to earn from their data by sharing it with brands.

Permission.io’s mission is to help individuals all over the globe earn from their data.

Internet giants profit from your data without you being able to control or benefit from it. Your search, shopping, social data … big tech makes billions selling it to advertisers while you get nothing.

Permission.io is leading the next generation of advertising by transferring that value back to you. Now, individuals, not corporate behemoths, are rewarded for granting permission to engage with brands and content based on their personal data and preferences.

Clearly, if you are an EU citizen the answer is “Yes, it’s the law.” Elsewhere, if you live in a democratic country, the answer may be “not yet, officially.” But if EU citizens own their data, then surely you will soon enough. Think of it this way: If you ask people to vote on whether they own their data, who would ever vote “no?” So, the EU’s principles of data ownership are likely to become law in all democratic countries, with some local variations—and in many less democratic countries too.

Yes. ASK originally launched on the Permission Blockchain, but has been fully migrated to Polygon. As a token on the Polygon Network, ASK is an ERC-20 token that can be bridged to the Ethereum network.

It's simple. Just search as you would on any other engine, except instead now you will get rewarded for engaging with ads! Users need to create a Permission account to earn ASK.

Only if you want them to. We enable users to permission their data directly to brands that they wish to engage with. However, when users are targeted for advertisements through the Permission platform, all data, regardless of source, is de-identified and aggregated for targeting purposes. Permission will always know which data is tied to each person, for purposes of rewarding ASK Tokens and ensuring interactions are compensated.

In the US, there are a variety of initiatives in favor of data ownership. It has become a political issue, but luckily neither party appears to oppose people owning their data. For example, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced Social Media Data Privacy Legislation in 2019. At the same time, Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang included data ownership as part of his presidential campaign. In late 2019, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This regulates the use of Californians’ personal data and is similar to GDPR.

The Permission Token enables individuals to earn ASK for permissioning their data when advertisers “ASK permission” to engage.

To build and grow their datasets and loyal audiences, advertisers join the Permission ecosystem to reward users with specific quantities of ASK tokens and brand-native NFTs in exchange for data and ongoing engagement. The more consistently users engage with advertisers on the Permission platform, the more they will be rewarded.

As Advertisers purchase media for rewarded campaigns, funds may be allocated for ASK buybacks.

Eventually, ASK holders may benefit directly from protocol revenues and fees generated from advertising products built on the Permission Platform.

To learn more, please see our Whitepaper.

When you engage with an ad from a brand on Permission Search, you are consenting to share your data directly with that brand. The data to be shared is outlined for you, and sent directly to the brand upon submission, so you may get contacted from them right away! Upon completion, you also get rewarded for the ASK amount that is listed.

ASK is a tokenized rewards point. A utility token that runs on the Polygon Network, ASK powers the Permission platform and a new digital advertising paradigm built on opt-in engagement and value exchange.

Before we can discuss how it might be possible to use your data, it may help to discuss what your personal data is. In truth, there are three main categories of personal data:

1. Credential data. This is your identity and all the documents associated with it that act as credentials: birth certificate, social security number, passport, driving license, credit and debit cards, memberships and subscriptions, and so on.

1. Title data. This refers to data that proves ownership of something, whether it be land, a property, a car, or a mobile phone. When you sell something you own you transfer its title to another owner. So this is data whose ownership can change. Digital possessions like books, music, and videos you have bought are self-defining title which you can also sell.

1. Your historical record. The third kind of data is your historical record, including such things as your educational record, your health record, your employment record, the history of everything you ever bought or sold, and even the web links that record which web pages you have visited. This data is valuable. In fact, it is your historical data, which both Google and Facebook exploit that is responsible for their advertising income.

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Although many crypto projects tout data empowerment, most limit users’ ability to benefit from their data to a specific browser or application. Permission’s platform is constructed to help users securely grant permission and earn from their data across multiple channels and contexts.

ASK is simple-to-use with earn opportunities that are straightforward and transparent and that will evolve as the project’s network matures. The vision for ASK is that users will put their data to work for their own benefit in a way that will easily blend into their daily lives.

Permission Search is the best way to own your data and earn from it. Get top quality search results and the ability to be rewarded and connect with brands offering solutions you are searching for.

KYC stands for Know Your Customer, and refers to the process of verifying the identity of a business’ customers. KYC is required by financial services companies such as banking institutions, credit companies, and insurance agencies to ensure their customers are legitimate and not involved with corruption, bribery, or money laundering.

KYC is one of the most important keys to reducing suspicious activity and fighting against bad actors on crypto platforms.

The data within an organization can be divided between data that the organization created itself and owns and external data for which it is the custodian. Which is which depends upon the law, as it can vary from one country to another. Under the EU’s GDPR, if it is personal data then the organization is the custodian of the data, and the data owner has the right to withdraw that data or, if it is inaccurate, to have it corrected.

There can be other complexities to data ownership within an organization, all of which arise from contractual arrangements. For example, a research organization may gather data for research purposes but contract the ownership of that data to the organization that is paying for the research. The ownership of data can thus be subject to contract, but local law may override such regulations, as would be the case in the EU if an organization made a contract to own someone’s personal data.

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Owning your data is important because your data has value. If you do not manage and control access to your data then others will extract value from it without properly rewarding you.

Naturally, you know where a good deal of your personal data is: it’s on your mobile phone, tablet, and PC. The rest of it is in the cloud somewhere. Some of it is held by government organizations, educational and health care organizations. Some is held by banks, insurance companies, and stores like Wall Mart and Target. Some is held by social network sites like Facebook and Linkedin, or by e-commerce sites like Amazon. Most websites that you visit are storing some of your personal data.

Many of these organizations, particularly social networks and search engine businesses will claim that you are trading the use of your data for the services they provide, although they rarely provide any detail of what they are doing with your data. For example, if you send a specimen of your saliva to a genetic analysis company that traces your ancestry, they do not tell you that they may also sell your data to pharmaceutical companies. This happens.

Additionally, there are data brokers who gather your personal data from publicly available sources: court cases, marriage records, property records, etc. and combine it with other personal data they buy: browsing history, social media data and anything else they can get their hands on, including data from retail stores and even the Department of Motor Vehicles. They sell such data to anyone who is willing to bid for it.

Because your data is fragmented and stored in many different places, at the moment, it is difficult for anyone to assemble their data all in one place. In theory, it would be possible for European citizens to do so because legally they can demand copies of their data from organizations that hold it. However, even if someone did that there is currently no easy way for them to assemble all their personal data in a single place. This will become easier when digital IDs become more common. This is why Permission.io is developing a Digital ID capability for its members. It intends to enable them to collect their personal data together should they wish to.

Currently, there are only a few ways for individuals to control their data and make productive use of it. Permission.io provides one possibility. It has built a blockchain business that enables individuals to earn ASK coins by watching promotional videos and ads in exchange for the use of their profile data. We believe that this is just the beginning. Permission.io is also providing its members with the ability to create genuine trusted Digital IDs. Once members have Digital IDs, they will be able to use them to authenticate themselves in many situations. Digital IDs will also provide a foundation for members to create and manage all their personal data from their own data vault.

Permission.io is not alone in believing that the Digital IDs will make a key contribution to Web 3.0, the next generation of the Internet. McKinsey for example believes that Digital IDs will engender a global business opportunity for people and organizations everywhere. There are two aspects to this opportunity. On the one hand, cybercrime will become less and less prevalent because individuals and businesses will be able to operate in a trusted environment, authenticating one another whenever they interact. On the other hand, the ability of individuals to control and share their data allows businesses and consumers to interact directly, on an equal basis, eliminating middlemen and thus reducing the cost of establishing and maintaining relationships.

As an ERC-20 token on the Polygon Network, ASK is supported by a wide variety of hardware and software wallets.