Abstract
Our current internet environment is characterized by online conglomerates, predictive computing and data mining. With this, there is a growing concern among users on how to protect their privacy and manage their identities online. Advocates for blockchain, the newest large-scale wave of internet based platforms, argue it is highly useful for privacy protection. Blockchain is an encrypted and decentralized public ledger that verifies and stores information through a peer-to-peer network. Using the social construction of technology (SCOT) as a theoretical framework, I deploy a comparative discourse analysis of three blockchain platforms - Brave, Civic and Oasis Labs - along with user discourse on Reddit and Medium. This paper explores how users socially construct this emerging technology by comparing privacy discourse between blockchain platforms and motivated social agents. I found blockchain privacy platforms and its users both value data ownership, ad-blocking and safety and security. However, there is also friction and disagreement about themes of trust and ethics as well as usability.
Highlights
Jenn Mentanko School of Communication, Simon Fraser University Abstract Our current internet environment is characterized by online conglomerates, predictive computing and data mining
We provide online conglomerates such as Facebook and Google with our data, which has become a valuable resource
Privacy discourse has become a symbol of resistance against the data mining activities of these major corporations. It has given governments and legal institutions the ability to create policy and regulation in an attempt to reign in the power of these major corporations, as seen in the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Summary
Jenn Mentanko School of Communication, Simon Fraser University Abstract Our current internet environment is characterized by online conglomerates, predictive computing and data mining. Using the social construction of technology (SCOT) as a theoretical framework, I deploy a comparative discourse analysis of three blockchain platforms - Brave, Civic and Oasis Labs - along with user discourse on Reddit and Medium. This paper explores how users socially construct this emerging technology by comparing privacy discourse between blockchain platforms and motivated social agents. Using a social construction of technology (SCOT) framework, this article compares and contrasts notions of privacy between users and blockchain platforms in an attempt to understand how users negotiate online power structures through technology. The goal of this article is to understand and compare how these blockchain platforms construct privacy to the ways in which a particular group of users understand the same concept. The social construction of technology (SCOT), works to explain how blockchain privacy platforms are developed, interpreted and perhaps altered or adapted by groups of users. Increasing societal representation in technological design represents democratic rationalization, an improved reflection of human needs in technology
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