Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mynewtb 2800 days ago
So what if a story or bit of information has to be retracted by law?

I second my sibling, newspapers have no interest in transparency.

2 comments

> So what if a story or bit of information has to be retracted by law?

Then the news agency issues a retraction. It's already the case that the Internet will not forget, whether via the Internet Archive or http://www.newsdiffs.org/ .

How can data be retracted from a blockchain?

Both those sites are also subject to laws and can easily retract information if necessary.

> How can data be retracted from a blockchain?

In much the same way data can be retracted from printed copies of newspapers that already have widely circulated copies in both personal and institutional/library hands: by publishing a subsequent retraction later in the chain, like any other change.

The change and what was previously there is left for anyone to see in the blockchain.
And printed copies are not?
Sure. But in the days of it systems and digitalization less and less is being printed. It’s also quite difficult to find and access these printed copies someone might have stored somewhere.
> newspapers have no interest in transparency

I disagree, I mean... the whole point of journalism is to get to the truth -- in other words, to make an event transparent.