Even the internet itself is being transformed by blockchain technology!
When I was at Consensus in May 2017 I met the founders of a project called Blockstack. This project is seeking to rebuild the internet in such a way that the control, use and ownership of private information is retained and controlled by each individual, yes…that’s you and me. That’s a novel approach!
Of course private data always used to be private, but somehow in the blink of an eye we find ourselves in a situation where we have given up our information in return for free services (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc). Our data is now owned by these and many other institutions, it is open to Government access and indeed to any party who can hack into these ‘data honey pots’.
Privacy laws can offer some protection (not against hacking!), but it would be better to not permanently give up the data in the first place. That’s the idea behind Blockstack.
This video by Blockstack sets out how the future internet, which is based on blockchain technology, may change this and give us back control over our data.