Freedom through decentralisation
For the past two decades technology has advanced significantly. Who would have imagined that one day, we would have the whole world in our pocket?
It’s hard to believe that there was once a time when we could function productively without a smartphone…
The recent progress of technology has been truly amazing. It’s led to big changes in the way we think, the way we live; but there have been hidden costs. Look at the development of data-centric business models and you’ll see that behind the scenes, we’ve been paying for our advancements.
Today there are a relatively small number of large companies that provide most of the online services we use every day. Put simply, the result of this is the personal information and communications data of the many, being concentrated, housed and controlled by the few.
Unfortunately, common practice today is to allow access to our personal profile and communications data, in return for using online services and applications. The average person was unlikely aware of this exchange until the recent string of high-profile data breaches highlighted the problem.
Considering these revelations of the misuse of our data by the companies trusted to house this information, we really have to start asking ourselves — ‘Am I ok with this?’ and ‘Does the benefit outweigh the cost?’
By using the existing industry standard cloud-based services model, in many cases we are providing full access to our personal lives to the companies that provide us these services, by storing these communications on their servers.
Every day we are giving away our personal details, information about what we like, searching preferences, who we are talking to, and what we are saying to these companies. Companies are using this data to influence the information we consume, the decisions we make, and even the way we behave.
It seems the general population is now starting to open their eyes more and more, and people are becoming aware that a new approach with less privacy compromise is required…
Enter decentralisation. But what is it?
Decentralisation is the concept of distributing information, power or resource away from a central location or authority. By using this type of architecture, in a software sense, new efficiencies can be gained, without necessarily compromising on quality, as well as reducing the amount of data being housed in a single location.
This approach begins to create the foundation of a new ecosystem where people can be a part of a peer-to-peer network, where the users begin to reclaim control of their personal information and communications.
This can enable us to communicate, share information and do almost anything that we are used to doing today, but with a higher level of confidentiality and trust. We achieve this by increasingly removing the centralised ‘middleman.’
The realities of a truly decentralised model have only very recently become possible with the advent of technologies such as blockchain, yet the concept of decentralisation also extends well beyond software and can be applied to many other aspects of our lives.
Decentralisation has the potential to lead to some fundamental changes in not just how we think about communication, but service providers and governance.
A decentralised approach begins to give the power back to users and will lay the foundation of a new, user-first internet and way of life. It’s one that we are very much looking forward to helping come to fruition!
With the amazing capabilities we now have to enable change, it’s high time that we realised that it’s humans behind the screen — so exploitation should not be the default setting.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, so keep an eye out over the coming months as I’ll be diving into this topic in depth; covering implications, benefits, and more technical aspects of a decentralised architecture, and what they mean for every type of internet user.
The decentralised future has landed…
—
Did this article spark any questions?
