How Blockchain Technology Can Restore Internet Privacy and Security
The initial development and release of the internet in 1983 sparked a wide interest and fascination with its potential to make our lives more efficient. Since then, the internet has nested itself deeply into our daily routines. Billions of internet users have access to a nearly infinite number of applications that range from online banking all the way to movie libraries. Social media systems are now a dominating part of 21st century life and interaction.
After the dot-com bubble in the 1990s, the tech giants that dominate our world today — Amazon, Google, Facebook, began to invade our privacy and security by storing personal information in “secure” databases. Not only is the internet insecure, but also banks that we trust to maintain proper ledgers are known to fail us. The fall of the Lehman Brothers in 2008 exhibits how the manipulation of a ledger can lead to disaster.
Today, “privacy will only exist until the next hack”. Data breaches, malware, credit card fraud, and identity theft are now a fact of life. These brilliant technologies developed in 1983 by the internet to make our lives easier are no longer secure. There is however a way to overcome this massive hurdle, one that has the ability to “revolutionize vast swaths of our economy”. This technology is known as the blockchain.
The blockchain is a coded mathematical structured ledger that stores data in a way that is nearly impossible to fake. It can be used for many types of valuable data. Blockchain technology consists of a decentralized network that maintains a ledger of all data transferred. Each node (computing device) that is part of the network maintains a copy of this ledger. After each transfer of data — for example an exchange in BTC (bitcoin) from one node to another will be permanently recorded in the ledger. The difference between a transaction being recorded in a blockchain as opposed to a bank, is that the bank only maintains a centralized copy of the ledger which has a potential to be altered or corrupted. The banks’ manipulation of ledgers in 2008 led to millions of unemployed and homeless persons.
With the blockchain, each transaction of data is hashed (translated into a 64 digit numeric and alphabetic sequence) and stored into a decentralized ledger. Every node on the network maintains an updated copy of the ledger. If any change is made to this ledger (i.e. someone hacks in and changes a transaction), the hash resulting from this change will differ from other copies of the blockchain stored on other nodes. If a disagreement is made the change will be denied from existing on the blockchain. This system allows for a near zero-percent chance of any hacking or corruption.
Blockchain technology currently exists amongst cryptocurrencies as a way to record transactions from one individual to another, however its potential is way beyond money. Massive industries could be revolutionized from this technology. Energy, advertising, food and agriculture, medicine, and elections are just few of many applications in which blockchain technology could be implemented. Not only could companies save millions of dollars in transactions fees, but also keep security and protection of our most valuable asset — personal information.
Skeptics of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology argue that this technology is useless as they do not fully understand its background and potential. “The blockchain skeptics have crowed gleefully as crypto-token prices have tumbled from last year’s dizzying highs, but they make the same mistake as the crypto fanboys they mock: they conflate price with inherent value”. Just as we could not predict which tech giants would emerge from the dot-com bubble in the 1990s, we can’t predict which companies using blockchain technology will dominate the future either. However we know that these companies will exist, because the technology itself creates one priceless asset — trust.
