Tech giants that control the internet are facing a growing number of innovators who want to reorganize the web completely.
Complaints about sudden video takedowns, de-platforming, de-monetized content and rampant censorship are pushing entrepreneurs in the blockchain space to invent solutions that can remove massive control away from big companies by turning away from centralized databases and powerful players who can pull the proverbial plug.
By plugging into the internet in a whole new way, computer scientists are rolling out protocols that could turn the internet into a more decentralized network, effectively challenging the few hands that wield overwhelming power.
In an interview with blockchain and crypto host Naomi Brockwell, Bradley Kam, co-founder of Unstoppable Domains, explains how building domain names on the blockchain is a departure from the traditional DNS system, currently the world’s largest registry for domain names.
Instead of having domains that are controlled by any single entity, government or organization, blockchain, which is the technology that underpins Bitcoin, uses a distributed ledger to record transactions.
Kam says his company is challenging the notion that domain names should pass through one centralized server.
“This is the problem. These are the situations where blockchain makes the most sense. With a traditional domain, yes, you own it, but GoDaddy or Google Domains or whomever stores it for you, and it means they can move it around or take it away from you. And this happens and it happens frequently.
A blockchain domain is a [non-fungible token] NFT. It’s like a Crypto Kitty or something like that. It’s an ERC-721 token. It is an asset on the blockchain. It sits inside of your wallet. You control it. No one can move it around other than you. You need the private key in order to transfer it. You need the private key in order to associate websites with it. So this means that you have websites that only you can put up and only you can take down, which is very different than the current internet.”
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