In the information age, authenticity is king, and new technologies like blockchain can help business successfully navigate the new verifiabilty landscape
The information age has undoubtedly begun, and all sectors of society are feeling its force. Ironically, though, consumers are suffering from a lack of the era’s namesake, a problem made manifest in nearly every sector of business.
A series of missteps by global technology companies has only exasperated the problem. In February, the Wall Street Journal reported that Russian operatives were capitalising on the prejudices of certain groups via viral doctored photos during the 2016 presidential election. This same strategy found success on Alphabet’s platforms, which includes the ubiquitous search behemoth, Google.
Most recently, the New York Times and outlets worldwide reported on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which included the harvesting of unsuspecting users’ data to create manipulative ad campaigns that reached millions of people.
The information age is morphing into the era of fake news, bias, and manipulation. While Facebook undoubtedly receives the majority of public attention, they are far from the only offender. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the technology that was intended to connect us has, instead, confused us. What’s worse, this isn’t limited just to the social internet. Businesses, organisations, and individuals are increasingly required to verify and certify their data because of a lack of trust and a definite need for verifiable records.
In the information age, authenticity is king, and new technologies like blockchain can help business successfully navigate the new verifiabilty landscape.
Building Trust on the Blockchain
Although the problem of misinformation precedes the emergence of connective technologies by a wide margin, many of our current issues are brought on by the dually-edged capability of existing technologies. Malicious-minded companies or individuals can manipulate data reports, propagandists can doctor photos, and scammers can forge emails using nothing more than a laptop and an internet connection.
It seems appropriate, then, to fight this fire with a conflagration of even greater power.
Formed as the accounting backbone to media-darling cryptocurrency Bitcoin, the blockchain was first introduced in 2009. As digital currencies brought increased attention to the technology, though, its use cases and capabilities expanded dramatically in breadth. At its core, the blockchain is a decentralised network that specialises in the authentication and transmission of data. Cryptocurrency is still the most popular application, but the near-total infallibility of the chain also opens the doors of authentication processes, political data collection, and enterprise-level analytics operations, audits, among others.
The best analogy to the level of security provided by blockchain tech also visually explains the concept. When a coded “block” is created out of various points of information, it is attached to the previous block, making a chain. But imagine, analogously, that each block is a brick, each stacked vertically on top its predecessor. Much in the same way that it’d be impossible to remove an embedded block from the middle of a pile 1,000 bricks high, it’s impossible to retroactively remove or alter a block locked into the chain.
In March of this year, Congress released its most recent Joint Economic Report. In the report’s dealings in regards to blockchain, it especially noted the technology’s prowess in enhancing security, efficiency, and data transmissions. The report noted that “blockchain technology essentially stores and transmits data securely, in large volumes, and at high speeds.” Moreover, research and consulting firm McKinsey and Co. described the blockchain as a “platform for truth and trust.”
Truth and trust are precisely what the technology world needs right now, and every effort ought to be made to deploy blockchain in verticals of maximum impact.
Limitless Applications
In a March editorial for the Wall Street Journal, Mounir Ibrahim advocates for the blockchain’s use in holding Syria’s despotic leader, Bashar al-Assad, accountable for his atrocities. By using a smartphone’s device sensors, Ibrahim argues, photos can be verified and housed on the blockchain. From there, any changes will be documented in its immutable ledger to ensure complete confidence in a photo’s authenticity.
This same methodology applies to enterprise scenarios as well. Certification, licensure, and valid data points are often required of companies, and the blockchain is more than capable of storing, cryptographically verifying, and transmitting that information when necessary. Not only that, existing data tools such as SQL are mutable and can be hacked, whereas blockchain solutions cannot without invalidating the entire chain.
The Future Requires Little Faith
The blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are still in the early stages of development, but their capabilities are already profound. They are foundational in maintaining digital currencies but, as the above and many more use cases prove, they have applications of nearly unimaginable breadth.
For the propagation of the information age, blockchain ensures stronger, more secure records and more efficient information validation. As such, it has undeniable potential to transform a whole range of organisations, from politics and finance to healthcare and philanthropy.
A new, decentralised, and trustless environment, if allowed for flourish with blockchain, also enables the fractionalisation of workflows, bringing into existence new micro-services not yet in existence. Users, data, and other inputs can be matched together in a trusted way that allows them seamless interaction and integrations, extending existing cloud economics to be scaled up or switched on and off with ease to save money.
Also read: Blockchain is the future of data privacy
This fluid, value-based system has no need for central control (nor manipulative interferences of such) and will have a profoundly positive effect on our societal systems. The power of the information age resides in nothing if not its authenticity, and the blockchain has the potential to restore that principle for millions of users.
About the Author
Adrian Clarke is founder of tech start-up Evident Proof, CEO of Berkshire Cloud, and former Microsoft CTO and Innovation director. Adrian has more than 20 years’ experience in enterprise cloud computing and app development, most recently as co-founder and CEO of Berkshire Cloud. Evident Proof uses blockchain technology to bring ‘trusted, distributed consensus’ to supply chain management.
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