Give Back Control over Content - Or?
The blockchain technology as introduced by Bitcoin 8 years ago, has this amazing feature: Every transaction that is accepted by the network, can never be deleted anymore as long as there are at least a couple of servers running the network.
This is one of the key features to allow a crypto currency to work, to give the currency the trust it requires, since it gives the coin owner the confidence that whatever belongs to him/her can never be disputed. In other words, the blockchain as used by Bitcoin has an in-build, time based history recording. A really fantastic feature that is very useful for eg decentralised banking, logistics management, contract management, property management and so on.
The Issue: No Control Over Content
For any service that allows content creators to publish their content - from text to media such like images, audio and video - such "not possible to delete" feature may seem a nice feature, but is it?
Sure, it is fantastic that nobody is able to delete the content you've created and published. Nobody is able to 'censor' your content.
But is it also great that you - the owner of your own content - you - the one who created and published your own content - are not able to control your own content?
Do you like it when you publish something today, you are not able to delete this tomorrow?
I strongly believe content publishing services shall allow to delete content - Limited to the owner of the content.
published @ thecollegecrush (source)
Steem Blockchain: Content Store
I realise the Steem blockchain is developed such that it records the text of the posts and comments made through interface like Steemit, Busy.org, eSteem, Utopian, and even DTube and Dsounds, and stores it on the blockchain itself.
However, the Steem blockchain does not store non-text media, like video and audio. DTube and DSounds use an external IPFS-based storage solution for this. My knowledge on these storage backends is not that great, but what I understand is that these services can actually remove content from their database. Some of these services do require periodical payments to allow the content stored in their network to be accessible. If that means the content can actually be removed/deleted, or the access to the content can be disabled, that I do not know.
What Are Your Thoughts
Would you like to be able to delete your own content you've published, or at least hide it for anybody else than yourself?
This feature of the blockchain is essentially a double-edged sword. On one hand it is really nice, knowing that no one has control over your content - no one can censor it, no one can delete it, and no one can claim that you copied their text as it is all transparent and easily verifiable whether or not you copied something or they just wanted to give you blame. On the other hand, ideas and people change. What a person thinks now might be the polar opposite of the thoughts he might have in a year. Especially when it comes to younger people. Leaving your thoughts on the blockchain, only to later regret that you left these comments online and can't do anything about it, might not be the best scenario. But as said earlier, it is a double-edged sword.
It is certainly a double edge sword how Steem is implemented at the moment. I would think, with some modifications, the double sword can become less edgy on one side:
With above two additions, the content creator is able to set access permissions to its own content to eg ALL, Followers, Following, Own only and all sort of other user groups when they are getting defined. This will make it easier for the content creator to publish more freely, whilst others cannot control other users content. I remember a cause of a user in our community, who was about to loose its job over something he published; The request to the community was to flag the hell out of the post to get it kinda non-visible. A work around that is not wanted imho.
These two additions will definitely help the whole Steem ecosystem out. It would certainly give content creators some level of control over their writings and gives them a chance to hide the ideas they have posted many years ago that are no longer in line with their current values.
I think you raise an important issue. Personally I think I would like to be able to delete my own content and also, even though I believe in decentralization, there are cases where I think control over what's published is justified i.e. when it's actually illegal (what should and what shouldn't be illegal is another discussion).
The line between censorship and legal control (if that's a correct term) is very thin but I think the discussion is needed.
I can't agree more. Maybe the control of content by others can be problematic, since when that is allowed, then censorship may happen. At Steemit we have the flag option, but the content is still visible. The content itself is not encrypted stored in the blockchain, ie everything and everybody can read it. Another social networks out there with blockchain encrypts the content first and provides the feature of permissions; That would be great for Steem blockchain to implement. When we get community features, this would be a great addition to that feature.
Yes, I do believe so as well! Always enjoy reading your posts and discuss! Very thought provocative :)
Thanks! :)
I think first of all it's very important for people to realize they can't delete their content here. It requires a completely different approach where you have to be really careful what you put out there. Sharing embarassing text or pictures of yourself (or even worse, others) is something you can't ever take back. Content plagiarism is also something you can always get into trouble with eventually and you can't ever undo this. That's a potential expensive mistake.
As long as you know how this works, you can be careful and adjust accordingly. It's kind of like a self-sensorship I guess. That can be good (keep your image online intact), but it can also be bad, because you might keep certain insights to yourself for fear of being prosecuted for them down the road. So there's no censorship on Steemit, sure, but not being able to remove your content is in itself a form of censorship I guess.
I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud now...
You have a very good point. Self censorship is for sure something that is apportune. I know I don't publish just everything. Not because the content is controversial, illegal or close to anything that may be censored on other platforms. But the content I don't publish here is content I only like to show for a short period of time; Mostly this is audio or video content.
Some (or more) may not care what they post even when it is copy/paste and/or illegal content, but they may also feel 100% anonymous and thinking nobody will ever be able to track them down. I suppose that in itself is the reason for quite a lot of illegal content uploads and copy/paste articles; But that is a complete different topic for another discussion.
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