Historia on free speech and censorship
Freedom of speech is a cherished value, and here at Historia, we seek to promote it through the use of blockchain technology.
There has been an increase in efforts to control free speech and information access, especially by governments and centralized organizations. This is exhibited in the form of censorship, restrictions on access, and prosecution of those who are deemed to have controversial views.
Take social media platforms for example. These private companies monitor and control our online activities and can censor what people post on their platforms as they see fit. This filtering effort runs the risk of censorship, in which users have access to less content and a wide ray of free speech may end up being removed from online platforms based on their terms and conditions. When these social networks engage in censorship, individuals are denied the ability to openly exchange ideas or engage in self-fulfillment.
In American colleges, for instance, nearly 90% of colleges and universities have policies that either prohibit or substantially restrict free speech. The best confirmation is the constantly flashing news about students engaging in disruptive and even violent activities toward guest speakers whose ideas they consider offensive.
In addition to these, governments across the globe have been criticized for muzzling free speech, especially when dealing with hate speech. A growing number of countries have passed anti-fake news laws in a bid to protect their citizens from harmful content online. However, many of these legislations contain provisions that dangerously threaten the privacy of users.
Censorship erodes the free and democratic nature of human society. It ignores the fact that social progress often depends on free speech. Things like racial and gender equality would not be so welcomed today unless courageous citizens were free to promote these once unpopular topics in public discussions. Lastly, censorship silences the sort of healthy criticism that allows true freedom and accountability.
To safeguard free speech and combat censorship, Historia has built a decentralized database which prioritizes recording of past and current events in an immutable and secure manner. We use blockchain technology and IPFS content storage system to facilitate documentation of historical and preventing third-party interference. Because of its decentralized nature, blockchain can ensure that no government or centralized entity are able to restrict access to records held on the Historia network.
Historia believes that any restrictions on free speech opens the door to restrictions on all speech. Our platform empowers users to express their views freely without fear of persecution. Users submit accurate accounts of events to the blockchain. These records are voted for or against based on the level of accuracy, references, impartiality and relevance. Once the record is uploaded to the blockchain, it becomes immutable and can never be altered, edited, or deleted. This is essential to prevent changes to the records even under distress from bad actors or threat of imprisonment.
If the record is determined to constitute as an advertisement, bias, or just outright lies, it won’t be added to the blockchain. Additionally, an approved record can be amended with later submissions, but the original content can never be altered.
With Historia blockchain, it is now possible to not only promote and validate free speech, but also record current and future events in an uneditable manner to prevent censorship.
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Historia is a community project. The influence of any one superpower does not endure in Historia. The project is for the greater good of the global community with allegiance to no one except the everlasting truth of how it actually happened. If you would like to be a part Historia discussion, join us on Discord and let us know your thoughts. All spectrum of opinions and facts wanted, come all.
Originally published at blog.historia.network on July 09, 2019.
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