Blockchain's potential to maintain a distributed, tamper-proof infrastructure for collective digital reminiscence has taken on an sudden political
Blockchain’s potential to maintain a distributed, tamper-proof infrastructure for collective digital reminiscence has taken on an sudden political salience for residents in Hong Kong.
Quickly after Hong Kong’s public broadcaster Radio Tv Hong Kong, or RTHK, revealed its intent to erase any archived content material over one yr outdated, residents hurried to avoid wasting a trove of previous information footage that had till now been freely accessible to the general public. The explanation for his or her haste was the popularity that RTHK’s archive comprises crucial protection of the latest years of anti-authoritarian struggles and protests that have been initially sparked by the introduction of the draconian nationwide safety regulation, in addition to proof of those struggles’ brutal repression.
The battle over the collective file of the previous has lengthy been underway at an official degree, encapsulated by the Hong Kong police’s try to rewrite the narrative of some of the violent and traumatic episodes within the 2019 protests: an indiscriminate assault on civilians on the suburban subway station Yuen Lengthy. RTHK’s neutral protection of that episode will probably be among the many content material misplaced to oblivion now that incremental deletion is underway.
Towards this backdrop, a blockchain platform that first emerged on the peak of the protest motion is now poised to offer residents and activists with the important means to reclaim and protect their latest political historical past in its integrity.
The platform, referred to as LikeCoin, is a blockchain-based decentralized publishing infrastructure, which gives a decentralized registry for all method of content material. Its options allow Hong Kongers to coordinate their efforts to archive now-endangered information throughout one distributed and tamper-proof collective database.
Slightly than storing the info itself, LikeCoin registers the metadata i.e. info relating to the content material’s creator, title, publication date and site. It additionally stamps every entry with a novel and immutable digital fingerprint: an Worldwide Commonplace Content material Quantity, or ISCN, much like a ebook’s ISBN.
The platform’s founder, Kin Ko, instructed reporters that whereas downloading and saving content material in an ad-hoc method might assist residents to withstand official censorship of historical past to an extent, proving the authenticity and integrity of that knowledge sooner or later will probably be extra problematic. He defined:
“When you’re the one that backed it up, you possibly can look by way of the onerous disk. However what when you’re not that particular person? Or what in case your onerous disk has damaged? […] How are you aware that [backed up] picture is similar picture taken 10 years in the past? How are you aware there hasn’t been further work finished to it?”
With LikeCoin’s blockchain infrastructure, 10 (or nevertheless many) years from now will probably be attainable to know whether or not or not the content material has been tampered with by monitoring any adjustments to its digital fingerprint. In terms of traditionally important archived video footage, that might supply a clue that the unique file might have been re-edited in a intentionally deceptive means.
LikeCoin makes use of its personal blockchain to keep away from the excessive transaction prices of a community like Ethereum at such a scale. Backing up a rustic’s latest political historical past is not any small matter. Ethereum had, in a extra restricted context, memorably been used to publish and protect a single letter by Chinese language #MeToo activists battling authorities censorship.