We just discuss how Hive's biggest use case is the democratization of data. This is something that, considering how important data is becoming, that is vital for the future of decentralization.
Start ups tend not to have the money to buy data from larger platforms such as Reddit or Facebook.
Today, we are going to cover another use case that was just driven home.
MTV News Pulled Offline
Paramount is the company that owns MTV. This was the revolutionary music video channel from the 1980s that became a legitimate movie and television studio.
At some point, it was purchased by Paramount. This company is having major financial issues.
In presumably a cost cutting more, the company decided to eliminate MTV News. This means that decades worth of information is now gone.
Is this the end of the world?
Considering the topic, it isn't. The reason why the site was shut down is because not many people visited. Is music and related topics important news? Evidently not.
However, this does show a larger trend that could take place.
Companies are always trying to improve their SEO ranks to drive traffic. For this reason, the belief is that Google gives higher priority to newer content. Thus, there might be incentive for companies to do away with some of the older information.
This is, naturally, guesswork since Google doesn't come out and tell everyone what it does. The fact that it might be true is enough for us to discuss the importance of immutable data.
Changing/Eliminating History
We know how important music is to culture. It is a part of us and, often, reflects society. When people write articles about it, that information can detail pieces of the culture.
Moving away from music, this concept can apply to everything.
It is often said that history is written by the victors. This is true. What if, however, there was an alternative?
This is what the Internet provided. The ability to offer "real time news" from any source is now part of social media. As events are taking place, people local can post what is happening either via text or video. This is done through platforms such as X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Of course, we have companies that control these platforms. This is no different than Paramount.
In other words, the database is fully controlled by the entity. Anything that is posted can be removed. This includes large sections of "history".
There is the additional burden where companies can go in and change the data. This isn't so much a concern with social media but can take place with news organizations. There is nothing that prevents an article for 2004 being altered to suit the desires of whomever is in charge.
That does not happen with blockchain. The information place is immutable. It mean any changes will be transparent. Each "update" is registered on chain, with the specific blocks involved providing a timeline.
Hive As An Archival Tool
We have a number of projects that seek to provide the archival of information. These are noble efforts. One that is becoming popular is Archive.ph.
As always, the question is who controls the data? How is this done in a manner that prevents what happened with MTV News? If someone stops paying the server bill, is the information gone?
With Hive, this is not a question. Whatever was posted on the blockchain in the past 8 years is still there. We can go back to the genesis block and pull the data. Each article and comment is captured and stored on more than 100 unrelated servers around the world. If one closes up, the information is still available.
Going back to MTV News, that use to be a big thing back in the day. There were articles on there that rivaled the likes of Rolling Stone magazine, when that focused mostly on music. A lot of quality information was instantly lost to the public.
It further emphasizes that is owned. Even the authors of said information no longer can access it. This proves how it was not theirs.
Another point is the fact that we have confirmation the Biden administration was collaborating with the social media entities, telling them what to take down. This turned them into nothing more than propaganda arms.
If the US government, regardless of which party is in control, has the ability to dictate what is allowed on social media platforms, a move the Supreme Court just upheld, that means anything can be taken down that questions what the government is doing.
Is this a digital world that we want?
Web 3.0 is a counter to this. The power of a permissionless, decentralized database is becoming more evident by the day. History can be scrubbed simply by accessing the servers. No longer does one have to collect all the physical books that had the information. It is simply a click of a mouse.
For all the focus upon cryptocurrency and money, the major use case of Web 3.0 is tied to data. This is going to be the currency of the future.
Posted Using InLeo Alpha