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by roywiggins 1616 days ago
Right. But that's what I mean by this thing not giving you "control over your data."

If I post something on Facebook and regret it, I have some control over it- sure, I can't delete it off Facebook's internal tape archives, but that's really going to be one of a handful of places it will stick around after I delete it.

If I embed something in plaintext on a blockchain it will be public, to everyone, forever. This seems like having less control, or at least no more control.
1 comments
magicjosh 1616 days ago
Interesting point about what "control" means. If I can put up a message that can never be taken down, is that control?

The case here is "yes", that's a certain type of control: the ability to put something up and never take it down. Kind of permissions on a disk where you can only write subsequent files but no one (including you) can delete old files. That is more control compared to someone who can write files but an admin can delete them.

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timeon 1616 days ago
But still, publish and lost control. No one has control now even the author.

Edit: my point is that it is control-less environment. So it is not answer to "where users do not have control of their data" problem.

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roywiggins 1615 days ago
If the solution that the blockchain offers is "oh, all your data is irreversibly public forever", then that's not a solution to the problem as commonly understood. For example, wikipedia describes the European GDPR like this: "The GDPR's primary aim is to enhance individuals' control and rights over their personal data" (emphasis mine).

If the GDPR (which regulates stuff around controlling who can even hold and retain data) is generally considered an attempt to enhance personal control over data, it seems to be using a totally different definition of control than one where it means "it's irreversibly public forever." A lot of blockchain projects seem to sell "control over data" when they mean the latter but allow people to believe it's the former.

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magicjosh 1615 days ago
Well said! I like how you spelled that out. "There are different elements of control, what's important for humans?"
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