Can Blockchain Preserve Data Authenticity in Social Movements?
Censorship resistance has caught widespread international attention recently. On 9 June, over 1 mn of Hong Kongers marched against the proposed extradition law in Hong Kong. There are widespread concerns from the protesters that fear of extradition to China might have a chilling effect on Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms and result in increased self-censorship. With the censorship-resistant properties of blockchain, can blockchain play a part in social movements?
Over 1 mn protestors expressed their concerns on the proposed extradition law in Hong Kong
Image credit: Shutterstock
Why Public Blockchain is Censorship Resistant?
Censorship resistance means everyone can transact with the blockchain network on the same terms, regardless of their personal identities. There are two scenarios when talking about censorship resistance of blockchain:
1) Transactions recorded on the blockchain is tamper-proof
When the transactions are recorded to the blockchain, the transactions are broadcasted to all the network participants. Unlike a network managed by central authorities, a single point of failure does not apply to blockchain, i.e. no single authority will be able to rewrite the transactions to suit their needs, unless they possess more than half of the computational power of the entire blockchain network and launch 51% attack.
2) Anyone can participate on the blockchain and transact
In the context of public blockchain, it is a permissionless network that everyone can participate without censorship conducted by governments or institutions.
An example using blockchain for censorship resistance happened on 23 April 2018. Yue Xin, former student of Peking University, had written a letter detailing how Peking University attempted to hide sexual misconduct. It is alleged that a student Gao Yan committed suicide after being sexually assaulted and harassed by a professor. The letter was censored by Chinese social networking website, however, an anonymous user had posted it on the Ethereum blockchain. The letter is accessible and readable by any Ethereum users.
Letter to Peking University recorded on the Ethereum blockchain
Image credit: Etherscan
The Data Recorded on Blockchain is True and Accurate?
Not necessarily! Transactional information (e.g. a token being sent and received) is verified by miners before being recorded on blockchain. After being stored on blockchain, the transactional data has been verified to be authentic.
However, for general information that is recorded on the blockchain, it is immutable yet we cannot guarantee the authenticity of that general information. Miners will verify the existence of that information stored in the block, but not whether the information stored is correct.
An Alternative to Record the Details of Social Movement?
Compared to information published in social media websites which is vulnerable to censorship, information on blockchain is relatively secure as it is tamper-proof. However, it is important to note that blockchain does not verify the accuracy of the information you have posted. It is the information recorded on blockchain cannot be edited or removed.
Thumbnail image credit: Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times