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Sergio Quiroz
CST 300
February 10, 2019
Blockchain

Blockchain is a way of processing and validating information. According to Martindale,

the way blockchain processes and validates information is by checking that the pre existing

node’s information matches if it allows the individual to add or change information. Blockchain

makes it possible for our peers to fulfill the need of contracts that would be appointed to central

authorities in a secure fashion thus, making it decentralized (Martindale, J. 2018, August 03).

Blockchain is currently being developed, this software design has been created and modified to

impact many sectors. At first blockchain technology came with the introduction of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that uses blockchain in its core. With the eruption of bitcoin came the

idea that blockchain can have other usages as well and the idea of something being decentralized

became enticing. Other sectors in society could adopt this new technology if they see fit.

In the present day, blockchain is heavily related to cryptocurrencies. People became very

fascinated with cryptocurrency and now many people are investing into it to some day in the near

future reap the benefits. According to Casey, the reason why Bitcoin is so talked about is because

it is insulated against inflation and currency devaluation but there are many scams surrounding

Bitcoin (Casey, K. 2017, April 26). However, even though some people became very wealthy in

investing in cryptocurrencies early on, there are also many other usages for this technology, some

are in politics, business, banking, and much more. As Marvin put it, blockchain at its essence is

effectively a database that’s validated by a community rather than a centralized database. It's a

database that holds records that the community maintains and oversees as opposed to a

government or bank that regulates everything from within (Marvin, R. 2017, August 19). This
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idea of having information that is not centralized and that a community is responsible for is new.

Since blockchain is still at its beginning stages of development there are individuals that hope to

promote its growth while others do not. Some individuals think it can improve businesses by

keeping the records safe and secure while others believe that blockchain can be hacked and

altered. In addition, some individuals believe that their privacy is secure given that blockchain

has a encryption method but on the other hand, people believe that given enough information

along with transparency individuals identities can be discovered. According to Iansiti, the

adoption of blockchain as a technological innovation will bring down governance, organizations,

banks and other sectors will have to reconstruct if there is to be a blockchain revolution (Iansiti,

M., & Lakhani, K. R. n.d.). Individuals therefore take sides on whether they are for or against

blockchain.

Blockchain's main controversial issues are privacy and security. People in favor of

blockchain argue that information that can no longer be tampered with is in societies best interest

moving forward. Any sector in today's society that adopts blockchain technology their

information will be transparent and available to anybody. Individuals believe that since

technology is constantly changing one must adapt and adopt in order to stay prevalent in the new

way society will function. Individuals compare the blockchain technology to the birth of the

internet and how accepted it can get in society. The internet is no longer something to think about

but a necessity for society to function the way it has been. People believe that this will occur

with blockchain by keeping information secure. As Arnold states it, since all the data records to

the ledgers are not centralized meaning they are stored in a distributed fashion means that an

attacker can not just simply attack one central data repository since the information is distributed
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(Arnold, A. n.d.). This means since the information is located in different areas in order to

change, add and delete information the attacker will have to hack all of the areas the information

is located on. In addition to having the information distributed, blockchain also uses encryption

to keep information safe. According to Marvin, blockchain security is said to be very secure so

much so that each block is encrypted and contains the information of the block that came before

it each having a timestamp down to the seconds (Marvin, R. 2017, August 19). This blockchain

encryption is called hashing which is when information is changed and then stored only allowing

the platform with the cryptography keys to know what it means. This adds another layer of

security.

On the contrary, individuals against blockchain believe that as society's dependency for

online services and other things having to deal with the internet becomes more apparent there

also comes risk of people’s privacy and security. There is always a chance that blockchain may

be hacked or tampered with for example, early on with cryptocurrency many people trusted the

technology to store their digital assets, such as bitcoin, however due to hackers they lost much of

their money and more importantly trust. In addition, at times private keys, which are the

individual's proof that allows them access to their assets, were stolen by the company or they

“vanished”. People began to question the security of blockchain technology in general. Even

then, people have seen what occurred with cryptocurrency and have doubts of how secure

blockchain really is since many keys were stolen and all the assets in them that were contained.

According to Tozzi, it only takes one misstep that can lead to a security vulnerability in a

blockchain software and since information is heavily dependent on blockchain an attacker can

manipulate the data without consensus which will lead to bad things happening (Tozzi, C. 2018,
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August 17). A group of bad individuals can alter the information if they manage to find

vulnerabilities. Depending on the context the blockchain technology is being used for this can be

very bad for example, the finances of a business can be altered which can be very devastating to

a company.

Furthermore, blockchain is transparent and anybody can see the movement and quantity

of assets if they please. People therefore believe someone's identity may be found out if

blockchain does a poor job encrypting someone's privacy given that there can be lot of

information on display. This brings up the level of concern corresponding to the individual's

privacy when using blockchain technology. According to Hoffman, sensitive information will be

listed publicly and there will be someone who will spend a lot of their time trying to figure it out

(Hoffman, K. E. 2018, May 01). This can be dangerous for people and their families for

example, if a politician's cell phone number, email or even home address is shared they would be

in danger and would have to relocate.

On the other hand, people in favor of blockchain technology have full confidence that it

is too difficult for someone to find out an individual identity based on the information displayed.

Blockchain has an encryption method that is used to disguise the information which makes it

difficult for someone to figure out as stated earlier. If made correctly and changed often the

encryption can be very useful. As blockchain technology advances the encryption method will

also be more complex hence protecting an individual's privacy. The ideal situation for blockchain

is that people will be able to use it freely without giving their privacy away. Blockchain will do

this mainly by being decentralized. According to Hall, MIT is trying to help protect people's

privacy by creating a “secret contract” which are nodes that have information that blockchain
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will compute without technically ever “seeing” it (Hall, J. n.d.). This will allow people privacy to

be better secured.

In addition, the stakeholders think that the ethics around the adoption of blockchain are

also up for discussion. When it comes to privacy and security, people in favor of blockchain

argue that the virtue framework can be applied, the virtue framework in essence is an individual's

moral philosophy and character of doing what is right and not just doing their job. Since

information on blockchain is transparently displayed it is up to the individual to have the proper

character and habits to not take advantage of blockchain. Especially those who are working in

the software aspect of it. On the other hand, people who are against blockchain could use the

ethical framework of individual relativism because if adoption of blockchain becomes the norm,

people who did not want to participate in it might need to. Since individual relativism deals with

the individual's perspective of right or wrong some powerful individuals might not like what

blockchain offers and use their power to have blockchain restrained to only certain sectors or

even make some laws that will benefit them if blockchain is adopted. Even the people with not as

much power should not be forced to use something that is against their beliefs or they deem

wrong.

Therefore, there are individuals that are on both sides of adopting blockchain. Those in

favor of blockchain believe that it will be the future tool that society will use without thinking

twice because of the potential in security and privacy. While others believe that some aspects of

blockchain could help and those who think blockchain will eventually die out because becoming

heavily dependent on one form of technology is not ideal. Even though no one knows for sure,
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the fact of the matter is that new technology will be tried out whether or not it is fully

implemented, partially or not at all will be up to how beneficial and practical it is. Time will tell.

Blockchain can be the future to automation. Whether or not people agree with it, they

will have to use it to some extent in the near future. Transparency can be beneficial in some

cases, but the real question is how much transparency and in what sector? Will this new

technology affect individuals privacy and is it secure enough to use and hold their information or

assets in. Weighing the pros and cons discussed, the use of blockchain is still the right way to

proceed and adopting blockchain will change the ways things are done in the future. It seems as

though it’s pretty logical to have a way to store and validate information that is very much

secure. It will be used in medicine, finances, other services and interrupt the way current

industries do business. It can revolutionize politics and other industries by allowing them to

connect to the creator/person directly. According to Marvin, it is understandable that new

technology can be vulnerable due to the fact that blockchain is in its early stages of development

and this can cause individuals to distrust it. People who use blockchain must understand that

because blockchain’s security is not only encrypted but decentralized and storing information is

safer but people should know that nothing is completely unhackable (Marvin, R. 2017, August

19). However, once it becomes efficient it will be widely used. As Tozzi puts it, people should

know the basic understanding of how blockchain works and its overall effect it can have when it

comes to information, being fully aware that blockchain is not a magical entity that guarantees

that total transparency is protected, that enables instant data transactions, and most importantly

data security, these are some issues that blockchain users must evaluate (Tozzi, C. 2018, August

17). People need to do some research regarding blockchain and familiarize themselves in the
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ecosystem to build confidence in using it. In the big picture of things, it seems to do much more

good than it does bad. I agree with the side that favors the adoption of blockchain that sees it

becoming the norm in the near future.

In conclusion, blockchain is a new idea and still underdeveloped. According to Casey, if

blockchain is done correctly it can impact every aspect of society, blockchain technology will

make the middle man in all sectors obsolete and because of this main reason tech enthusiasts will

have to wait a bit longer than they would like (Casey, K. 2017, April 26). Companies that act as a

middleman might see blockchain technology as a threat because in the long term its purpose is to

interact with the creator directly. One example of how big and influential it could be is when

nominating a president for the United States if blockchain is done correctly then there could be

no tampering with votes along with complete transparency of votes and that's just the beginning.

Blockchain has great potential to really revolutionize how we as a society perform.

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Reference

Arnold, A. (n.d.). Here's Why More Enterprises Are Considering Blockchain As Data Privacy

Solution. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2019/01/02/heres-why-more-enterprises-are-conside

ring-blockchain-as-data-privacy-solution/#31e60bddcb73

Casey, K. (2017, April 26). Blockchain: The Pro's and Con's of a Technology that Will Affect our

Future. Retrieved February 03, 2019, from

https://medium.com/totvslabs/blockchain-the-pros-and-con-s-of-a-technology-that-will-affect-ou

r-future-f67037da7d64

Hall, J. (n.d.). How Blockchain could help us take back control of our privacy. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/21/blockchain-privacy-data-protection-c

ambridge-analytica

Hoffman, K. E. (2018, May 01). Will privacy be a stumbling block for blockchain? Retrieved

from

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/features/will-privacy-be-a-stumbling-block-fo

r-blockchain/
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Iansiti, M., & Lakhani, K. R. (n.d.). The Truth About Blockchain. Retrieved February 03, 2019,

from https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-truth-about-blockchain

Martindale, J. (2018, August 03). What is a blockchain? Retrieved February 03, 2019, from

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-a-blockchain/

Marvin, R. (2017, August 19). Blockchain: The Invisible Technology That's Changing the World.

Retrieved February 03, 2019, from

https://www.pcmag.com/article/351486/blockchain-the-invisible-technology-thats-changing-the-

wor

Tozzi, C. (2018, August 17). Do I Need Blockchain Technology? A Realistic Look at the Pros

and Cons. Retrieved February 03, 2019, from

https://www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com/blockchain-technology/