P2P Architectures

The article argues that technical network architectures can support an innovative approach to personal data protection. Drawing on the case of Faroo, a search engine developed on a peer-to-peer architecture, it analyses how architecture co-shapes socio-technical systems by redefining and redistributing the allocation of rights – particularly control of personal data – between users, service providers, network operators and access providers.
The article then analyses P2P architectures in relation to the argument, often stated in Europe, that “our data do not belong to us”. It argues that these architectures could provide an original strategy for personal data protection, and that it would be advisable for European innovation policy to actively support them.