Sharing data is challenging. As it stands, when we share data we generally lose all practical control of it. With the ever-growing pool of data available for interesting computations, we need a way to share data appropriately. Private Data Objects is a technology that combines hardware-based trusted execution and a distributed ledger to wrap data with a smart contract that handles all access and update policies. In addition to protecting the confidentiality of the data (or rather the appropriate use of the data), executing the smart contract code in a trusted execution environment means that the policies stick with the data no matter who or where it is stored.

While the Private Data Objects project in Hyperledger Labs is clearly a research prototype, concepts and code are the basis for both Hyperledger Avalon and the Fabric Private Chaincode projects.