Can you imagine a 1984 system where the blockchain would be its main pillar?
First of all, I want to describe what is a 1984 system for me. 1984 is the title of a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell. If you have not read this book I strongly recommend you to do it. In 1984, we see a kind of governement/system "whose residents are victims of an omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation." The system also persecutes individualism and independent thinking, which are regarded as "thoughtcrimes". That, plus other authoritarianism elements, is what I think a 1984 system means.
Now, starting from that definition, there is no denying that the Blockchain technology will make it easier for many companies and industries to reduce costs and make their management much more efficient. But how will this new and unknown (for the most of the people) technology affect the end users / consumers? And beyond companies and consumers, how will the Governments try to draw up favorable laws to their control of power at all levels? One thing is crystal clear for me: the absolute control of user data by themselves will be like an oasis or a mirage, it will not exist. And I'd like to be wrong... in words of Ian Bogost: "Blockchain could further consolidate the centralized power of corporations and governments."
Taking into account that all the personal and use information of devices and applications, as well as the Smart Contracts and other elements and mechanisms, will be centralized –does not mind how much contradictory it may seem– in a system of intercommunicated blockchains, the resulting situation can not be more alarming.
The following are five considerations that lead me to be suspicious of the use and the process of legal regulations to which the Blockchain technology can be linked:
All our personal information and use of applications of all kind will be accessible publicly or privately from any application or device.
Companies and governments will want to charge for everything . Since all the information will be presumably centralized in a system of interoperable systems (a blockchain of blockchains), it will be very easy to trace the path of any transaction of the system. For example, the second-hand sales will be fully automated and when you sell something, the goverment will automatically charge –if applicable– the taxes deducted from that sale.
The governments will want to know everything in the name of national security. Also, companies, hiding behind the legality and legitimacy of governments will not want to be less. This is already happening, and no one cares.
Citizens' illiteracy on technological issues will make them careless about the entire Blockchain and other technologies legislation process. This will make it easier for governments and lobbies to write favorable laws to their desire of expanding their own power and wealth .
One of the keys of the Blockchain is trust between peers, trust between the different parts of the system. The question is if we are prepared to trust companies and governments that have not stopped letting us down since the beginning of the times.
As you can read between lines the system can easily go straight into a 1984 nightmare. If we do not pay attention to what happens around us, specially when talking about the process of legislation on all these new technologies, 1984 will come to stay. If we don't want it to happen –it might be late–, there are 4 points I want you to consider:
- The need of educating people at schools about new technologies. For most of the people techonology is magic; and with magic you make people to be entertained and not care about things that matter.
- We have to put a barrier between national security and the rights of the citizen.
- User must have absolute control and access to the management of their data, both personal and use of applications.
- The need of the respect to the right of any user to digital oblivion: users must be able to unsubscribe from the system at any time once the transactions (economic or not), in which they are participating, are closed. At least from the most of the blockchains that might be participating.
Anyway, as stated by Christoph Steck and Eusebio Felguera in the book "Blockchain: the industrial revolution of the Internet",
"All the opportunities that the blockchain offers to companies also mean a threat."
And this can be extrapolated to the rest of social actors: governments, citizens and public or private institutions of any kind.
I want to finish with a question to say goodbye to this article:
In which measure times coming will be different talking about elite's control and power?
This is an article I first write in spanish and publish at my cryptoblog.
More interesting info at:
-Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism
Images from Pixabay and Everything1s.
Thanks For Reading
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