“If You’re Not Paying for It, You’re the Product.”
This quote has been going all round the internet for quite sometime now. For all the free social media tools we are using, the undeniable truth is that we are paying for it with our personal information in some way or the other. In the digital media era, data is the most valuable currency and we all have become willing contributors to this social media ecosystem.
Centralized servers & Data Monopoly:
It is no secret that the convenience of smart phones is taking our social media usage to a new heights. Research shows that an average adult spends 45 minutes everyday on social media. With tremendous amount of data being created and shared between users, we leave the data in the hands of few centralised platforms giving them the monopoly rights.
When these data monopolistic companies become too powerful to even influence an election, they become bigger than the Government itself. No matter how strict the policies of the Government to protect the privacy of users, these corporations are ultimately holding the keys to your data. With increasing hacker attacks and bots, there is only more room for the data breach.
If companies can collect your data and make psychological insights from the data to create predictive and reactive political marketing campaigns, it clearly signals that we humans are giving up our innate right of privacy and freedom. Social media has deeply ingrained in our lives so much that no one is ready yet to give up its usage for all the dangers of the privacy breach.
When privacy in social media is becoming a matter of debate, does our free social media usage means we are being sold? Should we leave our data in the hands of few companies to decide the way they want to use it? Can blockchain solve the big problem of data privacy in the social media?
Can blockchain fix it all?
With Blockchain technology catching the interest of the internet, let’s explore how this groundbreaking technology could take social media networking by storm.
- Decentralisation
Distributed ledger concept in the blockchain ensures that the data is decentralized and no one single entity has the control over the entire data. In a peer-to-peer network model upon which blockchain operates, the entire data transmission is invariably reserved within the premise of the users. The entire transaction in the blockchain requires to be verified by large number of users and it is not possible for any single user to tamper the data. Also, distributed network structure ensures there is no single point of failure, as the data is present on several nodes and single failure cannot bring down any application.
- Data Encryption
After all, the data sent within a peer-to-peer network model should hop through various nodes to reach the targeted recipient. It is obvious that the data cannot be sent in a raw text format. The most common among the cryptography is the Public Key Cryptography which is most extensively used by blockchain. Public Key Cryptography uses a pair of a public key and a private key to perform encryption and decryption. Using the person’s widely distributed public key, it is possible to encrypt a message so that only the person with the secretly held private key can decrypt and read it.
- Dark Routing
Despite the encryption, conventional networking systems still has a room to view information about who is communicating to whom. For instance, Whisper protocol which operates on Ethereum ecosystem uses dark routing system to ensure user anonymity. Any piece of encrypted message sent does not contain the recipient address, rather it is sent as broadcast mode to every node in the network. With the help of bloom filter, node will attempt to decrypt the possible matching message and if the node has the specific private key for the message the node will successfully decrypt the message.
As much as secure the blockchain looks like, how fool-proof is the technology given the fact that blockchain is still in infancy. Despite having a strong security features, the fact still remains that the private data is stored on public network. The data once created on blockchain becomes permanent and it becomes impossible to delete the data even when an individual wishes to. Blockchain is not free from technical barriers and limitations. However, these limitations may be addressed with more technologists coming together to make blockchain a widely accepted phenomenon.
The core strength remains in the fact that the blockchain is in a perpetual state of use and replenish, the data entry points shift, and this makes it considerably harder for cyber criminals to falsify access. Traditional password protected systems can be scammed with fake passwords or identification certificates, while the blockchain moves so quickly, and is geographically and device agnostic, it makes it difficult for cyber criminals to be effective.
Way forward:
With different players collecting more and more data on the users and using big data to their advantage, it will become imperative that users will look for safer avenues. Blockchain is the way forward and in a way is a truly democratic tool that would decentralize the power and control exerted on the data.
We are still in early days of using blockchain in real world applications to prove the tangible benefits of the technology. With both startups and corporations showing interest in this growing technology, it is only a matter of time to see the blockchain technology taking over the world.
Our contribution to the new world of Blockchain :
We have created a business networking app, Slothee. The app is currently in its MVP level is now live for download on Play Store. Our iOS app is also soon to be live in the upcoming week. With our commitment to data privacy we are progressing to upgrade our app into a Dapp based on Whisper protocol. Slothee is set to position itself as pioneers in use of blockchain technology in the social media industry.
You can be part of this exciting journey! Check us out at www.slothee.io
