Prototyping Blockchain Futures: The Case of Digital Contraception
Larissa Tomaz
MSc Thesis 2024, Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon, Portugal
In recent years, femtech, a new category of business dedicated to women’s health, has emerged. With the variety of services and product options in the femtech market, which is relatively new and mostly unregulated, some cases of security breaches have impacted the privacy and intimacy of users. In light of these considerations, this thesis proposes a system that incorporates blockchain and smart contracts to provide a transparent and empowering tool for users to effectively monitor and control the use of their intimate data. We plan to explore the potential of blockchain to enhance the autonomy of users by offering a customized and interactive privacy policy that can be updated anytime, along with an access log for users to consult and track the use of their data, while also providing auditability capabilities for regulatory authorities. We propose a secure and reliable system by integrating permissioned blockchain and microservices to develop a robust and scalable solution.