The Butterfly Protocol will Yield a Censorship-Resistant Environment and Facilitate Freedom of Expression
Internet censorship is an issue that is getting more and more traction than ever. The internet has always rendered data accessible to anyone with a connection — but what happens in instances when your internet activity isn’t fully under your control?
At times, the purpose behind censorship is benevolent, such as parents demanding to restrict their children from inappropriate content. But in other cases, it can be a totalitarian attempt to control what a person is allowed and not allowed to do.
Basically, internet censorship is all about limiting the information readily available to people online, but also preventing them from publishing their own opinion and content. In the early days of the web, the user community supervised the browsers’ activity rather than governments and organizations. However, at one point community supervision has been deemed inefficient and was put in the hands of government bodies, which resulted in a number of dire consequences. So how can the public keep internet-based information uncensored? Read along, you will find out soon enough.
What tools are presently employed to sidestep censorship?
There are quite a few tools that help you resist censorship, but are only a temporary solution without directly dealing with the matter but rather go around it. For example, VPNs, which stand for “virtual private network(s), are a widespread tool used to bypass censorship. VPNs cover individuals’ internet activities through their private network, rendering it somewhat challenging for a third-party to see what the original IP address is. For instance, video content on the popular streaming platform Netflix is not accessible in every country. Some individuals in such countries use VPNs to mask their IP address and watch the otherwise forbidden content.
Web-based proxies are sites that allow users to gain entrance to restricted sites. Encoded proxies incorporate an extra layer of security by encrypting the connection, so that others cannot see what sites are being visited. Tor is the most popular example of an open-source browser that provides users with an online identity — it directs the browsing traffic in a way it sidesteps any censorships.
Whilst VPNs shield their users from local eavesdropping, the VPN suppliers can still document which websites a user have visited or can authorize third-parties to take a glimpse at the browsing history. Also, governments can take control of VPNs or identify its network signature and block it. Most importantly, web-based proxies deliver extremely inadequate safety and are an ill-advised choice for individuals with a high threat model because they permit monitoring of users’ activities. Additionally, these encryption tool providers might keep and therefore misuse user data.
Getting the freedom in the right sense of the word through blockchain-fueled Butterfly Protocol
In contrast to its predecessors, Butterfly Protocol is here to alter the future of Internet liberties — one with a decentralized nature, where individuals and enterprises go beyond the restrictions of ICANN thanks to blockchain technology. Putting DNS on top of the blockchain will set in motion the migration of its constituents on the decentralized network, and hence, it will put an end to any restrictions from centralized authorities.
Freedom of speech is Butterfly Protocol’s strong suit and is the main motive for its innovative nature. Butterfly Protocol will offer a mobile application that enables people to effortlessly obtain a domain name that represent their new online identify, and to use that uncensored identity to view and create new content. Others can also develop applications promoting freedom of speech by building on top of the Butterfly Protocol. All user accounts and posted content will be 100% censorship-free, and all content will remain under the full ownership of the user that posted it. Other users will be able to always access quality content through the web-browsing extension. Bear in mind that these examples are used to showcase the benefits of Butterfly Protocol’s prowess, but are only a fraction of the total power it can bring to the table.
The Butterfly Protocol will not only empower individuals to create content, but also new domain names and then receive a share of the tokens associated with them, something we will discuss in the next article. The users can then leverage those tokens to create subdomains, thus opening up endless new economies.
Freedom of expression is an essential right of each person. It is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to express their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, states that:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. This means that the protection of freedom of speech as a right includes not only the content, but also the means of expression.”
This is exactly what Butterfly Protocol propagates, and we couldn’t be more proud to finally delegate freedom to online users. Through Butterfly Protocol, people will finally go beyond the boundaries of centralized networks and lift off the restrictions otherwise imposed onto them.
