Contextual Privacy and the Control of Information: An Account of the Socio-Technical Commitments of Blockchain Technologies

The ADAPT Centre is the global centre of excellence for digital content technology.  Funded by Science Foundation Ireland, ADAPT is led out of Trinity College Dublin and incorporates the world-class expertise of researchers at Dublin City University, University College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology.  ADAPT’s activities encompass research, training at graduate and post-graduate level, and technology transfer activities in the area of digital content including Artificial Intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, multimedia information management and extraction, natural language processing and understanding, social media analysis, multimodal interaction, image and video processing, human-agent interaction, cognitive systems, deep learning and machine learning, amongst others.  ADAPT’s researchers are focused on pushing the boundaries of what is possible to develop next-generation digital technologies that enhance human ability by enabling seamless tech-mediated interaction, communication and engagement.

ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology

From Bitcoin to the recent development of “blockchain technologies” (the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin), privacy enhancement is often touted as a key feature of these new technologies. There is a sense in which the pseudonymous nature of transactions recorded on a decentralised public ledger (a “blockchain”) are somehow more private than many existing alternatives. When pseudonymous transactions are time-stamped and immutably recorded into a publically-verifiable distributed ledger, along with the possibility of cryptographic authentication and verification, a great deal of nuanced control of information is possible. Moreover, blockchain ledgers are agnostic about their recorded values—a place where persons and objects are treated alike. This agnostic view of information content permits flexibility around tracking, verifying, and, in general, controlling, the context of information flow. Newer blockchain applications include the ability to track objects in supply chains, monetise digital art, vote electronically, and issue digital identity cards. All of these new applications require significant normative attention to information flow, in a broad sense, for: security (exclusion), creating economic value (rarity), and privacy (freedom from intrusion).  
BIO:
Quinn DuPont studies the role of cryptography, cybersecurity, and code in society, and is an active researcher in digital studies, digital humanities, and media studies. He also writes on Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technologies, and is currently involved in Canadian SCC/ISO blockchain standardization efforts (SMC/ISO/TC307). He has nearly a decade of industry experience as a Senior Information Specialist at IBM, IT consulting, and more recently, usability and experience design with Oban Digital.  Quinn is currently writing Cryptocurrencies (Polity Press, Digital Media and Society).

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Contextual Privacy and the Control of Information: An Account of the Socio-Technical Commitments of Blockchain Technologies

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Contextual Privacy and the Control of Information: An Account of the Socio-Technical Commitments of Blockchain Technologies

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