Surveilling the Blockchain

The two readings on how AdTech, private data selling, and the government using these to leverage an unprecedented amount of surveillance unsettled me. I knew things were bad, but that really drilled down a visceral sense of where we’re at in the surveillance game right now. I may be a drop in the ocean but they can identify every drop and its movement when needed. Terrifying stuff.

The True Nyms and Crypto Anarchy by Timothy C. (1996) didn’t really offer me a psychic salve, but it did offer some musings on crypto anarchy. I am not a crypto guy nor an anarchist, so I read the text as an escape. The reading reminded me a lot of the hacktivism readings we had done, where in both cases talented individuals prided themselves on skillful flourishes to combat surveillance. This skillful hiding ultimately proves ineffective in terms of preventing surveillance, egotistical, or actually help the surveillance state adapt and grow stronger. However, the Crypto Anarchy did offer some analysis of things that did come to pass such as digital money and cryptography encoded digital goods.

We have not covered the blockchain in class, and it might not be relevant to data privacy/surveillance. I have no firm idea of what the blockchain is and only really knew it as a buzzword used by people who loved Bitcoin (which I do not). But I was curious and decided to research if blockchain technology and surveillance do overlap in any way. I did some get some hits but I’m left with more questions than answers.

IBM has an article titled, “What is blockchain security?” I’m glad to hear this information from a legitimate company and not someone inviting me to a Discord. “Blockchain technology produces a structure of data with inherent security qualities. It’s based on principles of cryptography, decentralization and consensus, which ensure trust in transactions. In most blockchains or distributed ledger technologies (DLT), the data is structured into blocks and each block contains a transaction or bundle of transactions.” Each transaction is clearly seen on each client’s ledger, which ensures that no one can defraud since other people have proof of the ledger and can point out discrepancies. I was curious which servers these blocks of bundled data have to be on since all these blocks have to be linked and formed with crunching cryptography algorithms.

Apparently, blockchain servers eat up a lot of energy and water since a lot of computer power is needed to mine and decrypt things. This is primarily why they are not financially feasible for businesses to use in practicality. But that is not stopping everyone from devising of a way to use it. “According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), Bitcoin currently consumes around 110 Terawatt Hours per year — 0.55% of global electricity production, or roughly equivalent to the annual energy draw of small countries like Malaysia or Sweden.” (from Harvard Business Review)

I found one paper, “Blockchain-Enabled Smart Surveillance System with Artificial Intelligence”, that argued that handling patient’s medical data could be more confidentially done if put in a blockchain. Information would be clear and secure in a hospital’s database and each patient/medical person would have a private key that they could use for each request. Again, the most unrealistic part of this cryptographic equation is the energy part of it, but I do wonder how cryptography could have a use in defending data at all.

Going back to the Crypto Anarchy text, I don’t see a good collective strategy in dealing with surveillance. However, I do agree that imploring lawmakers will not be enough. We need to be able to grasp this technology and devise at least a little safety.

“The larger issue is that mere laws are not adequate to deal with such sales
of personal, corporate, or other private information. The bottom line is this: if
one wants something kept secret, it must be kept secret… ‘And who shall guard the guardians?’ The technology of privacy protection can change this balance of power.”

Whereas the Cipherpunks believed in the future of technology and hacking to deliver skillfully delivered privacy, I believe we might need to go back to more analog technologies. Paper records are annoying, but who can access something that I hold physically? People can listen in on radio frequencies, but they are also easier to scramble, overwhelm, encrypt, or manipulate. Of a few things I’m sure: blockchain will not save us; and these smartphones might need to be ditched.