[ad_1]
The next year promises to be an important year for blockchain and cryptocurrency and we will see the launch of several important industrial platforms that offer solutions for distributed master books or cryptocurrencies.
Bakkt is a well-known initiative that will offer the easy ability to accept Bitcoin in a wide variety of companies, while also providing physical delivery futures contracts. It launches at the beginning of 2019.
What was unexpected, however, was the fact that Comcast commercially launched a blockchain initiative in 2019.
Comcast announced the move in a press release dated December 21st. He is currently working with Viacom and Spectrum Reach to implement the platform that aims to be "The Identity Layer" for the television audience. Other companies will soon be added to the offer.
What is Blockgraph and what is its goal?
Blockgraph at its basic level is peer-to-peer software that allows media companies to better use consumer data on a large scale while protecting consumer data. To do this, Blockgraph enables blind matches with participant data.
Using cryptographic protocols probably similar to "Zero Knowledge Proofs", a technique invented in 1985 by cryptographers and popularized by the Z-Cash protocol (ZCASH). The Blockgraph encryption protocol allows media companies to combine advertising directly with consumer data without ever seeing or having direct access to individual consumer data.
This is made possible through the Blockgraph software, which directly corresponds to the encrypted data results, not to the data itself. The software also has a level of identity that allows each consumer's data to remain on their system, a feature that pays tribute to the digital self-release launched by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency projects.
On the surface, Blockgraph is an exciting implementation of the principles supported by cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. The use of encrypted blockchain systems to manage privacy is not a new concept. Projects like Basic Attention Token (BAT) and others have talked about similar approaches, but this is the first time that a company like Comcast has put its weight into a system with these principles.
Unfortunately, there is still an elephant in the room. Is Blockgraph a truly decentralized protocol? At the moment we do not have all the details on how Blockgraph will actually be implemented, and this leaves unanswered critical questions.
David Kline, executive vice president and president of Spectrum Reach, said:
Comcast has invested in building Blockgraph technology, but we do not want this to remain just an initiative led by Comcast. We are inviting the entire television industry to participate in Blockgraph so that it becomes a real industry business, "said Marcien Jenckes, president of Comcast Cable Advertising." When scaled down, unidentifiable identifiable information becomes available to everyone, the focus shifts on what a supplier is able to do with such data and how it can be used to generate results. We believe that when advanced data capabilities are combined with the benefits of awareness and involvement of TV and premium video, the results will be hard to beat.
Based on these comments, the natural assumption is that Blockgraph will be implemented as a blockchain of the consortium. This means that all the companies involved in the system will be involved in the management of the nodes that make up the network. This creates a more decentralized system than the one in which Comcast handles everything, but still has many concerns.
A blockchain of the consortium can be compromised if enough parts collude and if all these parts are members of the same industry, the likelihood of collusion increases due to shared incentives. It remains to be seen whether the Blockgraph protocol can be decentralized enough to protect the consumer or whether it will give undue influence to the parties that maintain the network.
Without further information on technical specifications, we can only speculate. It is impossible to really anticipate the risks and the influence that network nodes might have, or if Blockgraph even relies on a consortium of nodes.
It is important to remember that the value of the blockchain derives from the adoption of a new approach to network management. Blockchains that are not decentralized are just shared databases and do not offer significant benefits. Realizing a decentralized blockchain solution effectively means eliminating the ability of an entity or a group of them to control the system. It means that Comcast will have to step back from his ability to influence Blockgraph.
This is a radical departure from the way most companies think about their products and services. Will Comcast change its approach and create a decentralized identity level for the television ecosystem, or is Blockgraph an industry-controlled service that will be sold to advertisers?
We will be able to answer this question as more details about Blockgraph emerge, but it is encouraging to see how many popular blockchain principles are put into practice in the management of consumer data privacy through encrypted correspondence.
Blockgraph and efforts to separate consumer data from individual consumers could be a huge step forward in resolving consumer data privacy abuses. But it will only work if there are protocols in place to prevent the system from being abused.
