Blockchain as a key to 21st-century privacy and censorship resistance.

Decentralized file-sharing systems that Big Tech corporations cannot control are the only way for internet users to protect their freedom in the following years as people’s privacy and censorship are still vulnerable.

While censorship resistance and privacy are not the same, they are inextricably linked. When the government or another entity, such as an advertiser, can track everything you do, they can also sanction you for bad behavior.

Instead of going backward to cover up seismic flaws in Web2 with duct tape, it may be time to go full speed ahead to ensure these same mistakes don’t reoccur in Web3. By being proactive, the ostensibly future internet could actually protect our private information and prevent overzealous or oppressive censorship before these issues become unmanageable.

Using cryptography to deliver the message

Suppressing free speech and outward communication in countries fighting for human rights and civil liberties complicates the fight against oppressive regimes. This is where blockchain technology’s encryption and transparency may help protect sensitive data. Web3-based email extensions (such as ShelterZoom’s Document GPS) and file-sharing services (such as the InterPlanetary File System) have the potential to assist activists and citizens in human rights hotspots in avoiding censorship and unwarranted surveillance.

By putting documents on a ledger, the sender can control all aspects of visibility and permissions while also having access to a time-stamped log of every action taken with the file. Consider DocuSign or Google Docs on steroids.

It’s easy to see how these blockchain-based tools would be useful in a regime with strict surveillance and censorship practices. However, these solutions also use blockchain to address crypto’s censorship flaws. It’s a common misconception that crypto is inherently private, when in fact, transactions are stored on an open and transparent distributed ledger. As a result, they are more effectively traceable than traditional financial transactions.

This lesson was learned the hard way by the truck convoy blockade in Canada, which received donations in Bitcoin (BTC), which were easily traced and sanctioned. According to Michael Gronager, CEO of blockchain data firm Chainalysis, “crypto is far more transparent than traditional finance. We follow the money.”

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So, how did crypto earn its reputation as censorship-resistant? Part of the answer lies in its decentralized ledger, which is extremely difficult to take over, implying that transactions are immutable once recorded.

Tomi, a developer of Web3-based decentralized solutions and assisted-computing hardware, is one network attempting to provide complete anonymity. TomiNet is being built by eight anonymous senior crypto veterans working with 72 developers to enable the free flow of information between journalists, activists, and generally law-abiding citizens without government or corporate interference. While TomiNet provides similar anonymity functions to the dark web, the network is governed by Tomi’s community via a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to prevent unsavory or pernicious activities.

The idea behind DAO governance is simple: keep governments and corporations out while still providing a mechanism for dealing with violence.

The need for decentralization is more than theoretical.

Another notable example of gatekeeping in Big Tech is the exclusion of the controversial right-wing social network Parler from cloud-based web hosting services such as Amazon Web Services. Cloud technology is hailed as a truly beneficial technology in internet infrastructure. However, there are a few cloud companies that provide virtually all necessary infrastructure, allowing them to act as gatekeepers.

Whether or not you agree with Parler’s ban, the event shows how a company can be effectively blocked from operating on the internet because a cloud service would not serve them.

Decentralized web hosting could provide a much-needed solution. Companies like Akash and Flux provide a wide range of cloud services that are essential for the internet age, but by leveraging decentralization, they remove the cloud service’s ability to exert control over users.

The number of examples of governments and private entities wielding too much power and stifling free speech and communication is growing by the day. Web3 must step up to the plate, but in a more forceful and demonstrative manner than in the past. Censorship resistance and privacy are inextricably linked, and neither is complete without the other. The crypto world must remember this if it is to fulfill the space’s lofty promises.

Maintaining privacy in this day and age is nearly impossible. Everyone is vulnerable to unwanted exposure, from data theft incidents to governments tracking citizens. TikTok recently updated its privacy policy for the European Economic Area to confirm that personnel, including those based in China, have access to user data. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime continues to crack down on protesters, making citizens afraid to speak out against the regime.

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