As the world becomes more saturated with tech, the way we live, work, and interact continues to evolve with increasing demand for data. From purchasing goods online to working in an organization or voting a political leader, almost everything we do today requires some personal data for participation.
Despite the huge breakthroughs recorded, technology failed to maintain the conventional concepts of privacy-protecting our right to nondisclosure. It has consequently led to the exploration of alternative privacy solutions like blockchain.
Traditional Privacy Policies Dying
In recent times, our privacy has come under massive attack by Trojan horses and unsolicited surveillance by authorities. There have been countless cases of data breaches in both large and small organizations.
Just last year, Facebook suffered a major data breach that leftover around 29 million user accounts and information open to hackers. Something similar happened in September 2017 when Equifax lost over 180-million credit-related information of Britons and Americans to an unknown organization. It included birth dates, home addresses, social security numbers, and other confidential data.
Imagine what could be done with such sensitive information, especially if it gets into the wrong hands. For example, casino enthusiasts look outside the book of ra for the best slot games, or blockchain technology is completely ignored. Bank accounts can be invaded, and purchases can be made in our names without our knowledge. Someone can even borrow in your name, and your consent wouldn’t matter.
Blockchain Technology to the Rescue
Apart from these cases of theft, there are also times tech firms exchange our data with third parties without our authorization. It could be individuals, institutions, or companies with different interests and motives. A good example is the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, which saw Facebook sell more than 87 million users’ data to politicians. We could go on and on.
It’s almost like we have no control over what is being done with our data. There has never been a better time for a radical change in the way user data is being collected and maintained. While there are existing regulations on data collection practices by government authorities to address some of these privacy concerns, the issue of compliance has been a significant challenge.
In the face of growing privacy concerns, there has never been a better time to take drastic steps to encrypt our lives. A possible solution could be found in the use of blockchain technology or blockchain bitcoin.
How Blockchain Can Help?
Zero-proof and blockchain technology are some of the solutions already being suggested to tackle the vast proliferation we are currently witnessing with data confidentiality in the digital world.
However, from many indications, blockchain bitcoin looks like the most feasible solution. Apart from its similarity to existing financial systems, it already has an extensive network of users, companies, and blockchain developers.
The majority of people who push for personal privacy believe in the applicability of blockchain in addressing the ongoing privacy crisis. As a result, many are encouraging the development of blockchain currency solutions.
As a distributed ledger system, blockchain stores information in different locations rather than just one centralized database. The records collected cannot be changed, and they are shared among blockchain users, with each user given an encrypted key.
According to blockchain wiki, these records are organized in blocks that are connected using cryptography.
Apart from the high level of encryption, this provides, blockchain also creates some degree of obfuscation on a large scale, thereby eliminating the risk of a single point of failure.
So stop giving out critical personal information every time you register on a new platform or want to purchase something online. You can put everything in a decentralized ledger with blockchain instead. Together with security features like bio-metrics, the blockchain technology can then be connected with current payment solutions, and from there, you can determine what gets shared.
With this bitcoin blockchain system, there won’t even be a need for passwords anymore. And it’s almost impossible for users to be tracked.
Zcash and Monero privacy coins are good examples of blockchain payment solutions that operate this way. The same can be said of blockchain social media platforms like Sapien and BAT.
The Problem with Bitcoin Blockchain
Blockchain operates on a decentralized system, which means users’ information is stored “everywhere.” In order words, bitcoin is not financially exclusive (at least not at the moment).
It is why there’s concern over the use of privacy coins like the ones we mentioned earlier. Such blockchain coins offer freedom and control for online transactions. However, it may encourage more criminal activities since there’s no way to track the blockchain users.
As you can see, the bitcoin trader review is still far from perfect.
Wrapping it Up – The Way Forward
Fortunately, there’s ongoing research at MIT to address the present problems of blockchain, as highlighted above. The group working on the improved blockchain explained that the current project, which is called Enigma, will be replacing the old smart contracts with secret contracts. The upgraded blockchain will allow access and manipulation of data but without exposure.
In addition to data integrity, the team on the blockchain technology explained that the system would ensure users have complete control over their personal information. This way, they could stop companies and institutions from analyzing or monetizing them. Many economies have already started adopting blockchain technology. Singapore and Estonia are two good examples.
Do you see any potential in blockchain bitcoin to solve the present privacy challenges, or do you think otherwise? Please share your thoughts below.
Thomas Glare is content developer at Brain Heights. He loves to write about tech and business at work but prefers camping whenever he’s free on holiday.
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