Blockchain could be illegal in the European Union. - page 2.

HeRetiK

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Quote from: botany on March 30, 2018, 02:35:36 AM

It does seem a bit far fetched now. Private companies, which decide to store personal data on a permissioned blockchain, can actually alter the blockchain by forking it, as long as all the nodes agree. In case of a court order, there should be no problem in that.

Which is precisely why the usefullness of private, permissioned blockchains is questionable. In the end they lose all the worthwhile properties of a blockchain -- including, effectively, immutability -- leading the concept of blockchains ad absurdum.

The upcoming data directive of the EU is merely yet another reminder why it makes no sense to try cramming blockchains all over the place. The blockchain use cases that "got lost" due to the upcoming EU directive were likely never viable in the first place.

Quote from: botany on March 30, 2018, 02:35:36 AM

I doubt if any company would be storing personal data (in its raw form) on a permissionless blockchain.

Would make for an interesting legal case though. Say you're a company that offers the service to store your personal data on a public, permissionless blockchain by offering a simplified user interface for the likes of OP_RETURN. Who has the legal responsibility over the data? The consumer that made use of the service or the service provider?

Quote from: botany on March 30, 2018, 02:35:36 AM

If you put the hash of personal data on the blockchain, I think it still might be acceptable and not in violation of EU laws.

Exactly.

botany

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Quote from: Don Pedro Dinero on March 29, 2018, 01:41:26 AM

EU new regulation on data, which will come into effect in May is based on “The right to be forgotten”, i.e. the right to demand that personal data is modified of deleted. On the other hand, data on blockchains is unchangeable in practice. It is one of its main characteristics, which makes it so reliable.

Many companies have been developing blockchain-related projects, but as sanctions on the new law will be up to €20 million it is expected that those companies abandon such projects.

It seems this won’t affect bitcoin and cryptos, as the law only applies to companies, and blockchain in these cases is held by individuals.

More info:

https://iapp.org/news/a/blockchain-technology-is-on-a-collision-course-with-eu-privacy-law/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten

It does seem a bit far fetched now. Private companies, which decide to store personal data on a permissioned blockchain, can actually alter the blockchain by forking it, as long as all the nodes agree. In case of a court order, there should be no problem in that.
I doubt if any company would be storing personal data (in its raw form) on a permissionless blockchain. If you put the hash of personal data on the blockchain, I think it still might be acceptable and not in violation of EU laws.

countryfree

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I'm all in favor of strong personal data protection. Regulations shall not change because of some new data storage architecture. Nobody said that a blockchain would be better than a conventional MySQL database for storing personal data. Actually, only a very limited type of data would be better in a blockchain.

And when you think of it, the first millions of transactions in BTC's blockchain are crap. I made my first real transaction in 2015, and the hundreds of transactions I made before that were coming from faucets, or me playing by moving BTC from one wallet to another with different software. Crap! And don't forget the millions of spammy transactions we had last year.

The MySQL databases I'm running at work are much more efficient than any blockchain.

jseverson

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I could be wrong, but doesn't this just mean that you can't store any personal data on the blockchain? Bitcoin and other cryptos shouldn't be affected because transaction data isn't personally identifiable by default; you just know someone will challenge this in the future with a lawsuit though.

Either way, it's somewhat concerning because it's almost certainly going to limit the evolution of blockchain technology. I don't see regulators making a special case here either, because all abusers would have to do in that case is to move data to circumvent the entire law. I guess we just have to wait how things unfold.

HeRetiK

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Quote from: Don Pedro Dinero on March 29, 2018, 05:48:38 AM

Quote from: HeRetiK on March 29, 2018, 04:29:02 AM

Which companies in this space actually do store personal data on a blockchain?

Quote from: Proton2233 on March 29, 2018, 05:27:43 AM

The use of blockchain does not require the provision of personal data.

That’s beyond my knowledge but the article mentions blockchain on contracts:

https://medium.com/crypto-currently/build-your-first-smart-contract-fc36a8ff50ca

land registries:

http://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/blockchain-and-land-registries-records-of-the-future/

and identity management:

https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/identity/

Storing personal data is not a prerequisite for smart contracts. The large majority of currently active smart contracts are working without the usage of personal data.

Land registries can decouple personal data from the property transactions to be stored on a blockchain.

Heck, even a digital identity can be established without storing personal data. Obviously not what IBM is striving for though.

Don Pedro Dinero

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Quote from: Beclecam on March 29, 2018, 03:51:13 AM

I think that is one reason the 2018 bitcoin market and cryptos are always down. I hope there is something that can change with the bitcoin market and cryptos grow as fast as the end of 2017.

It has nothing to do with the current bear market. This won’t affect cryptos, as I said before.

Quote from: HeRetiK on March 29, 2018, 04:29:02 AM

Which companies in this space actually do store personal data on a blockchain?

Quote from: Proton2233 on March 29, 2018, 05:27:43 AM

The use of blockchain does not require the provision of personal data.

That’s beyond my knowledge but the article mentions blockchain on contracts:

https://medium.com/crypto-currently/build-your-first-smart-contract-fc36a8ff50ca

land registries:

http://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/blockchain-and-land-registries-records-of-the-future/

and identity management:

https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/identity/

Proton2233

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The use of blockchain does not require the provision of personal data. After the Facebook scandal, I expect that the requirements for providing personal data will be significantly limited. Why cryptocurrency exchanges require such data if Fiat withdrawals to a Bank account. It is enough that banks have such data. I think cryptocurrencies will now be more confidential. Maybe it will be cancelled KYC requirements.

HeRetiK

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Quote from: Don Pedro Dinero on March 29, 2018, 01:41:26 AM

EU new regulation on data, which will come into effect in May is based on “The right to be forgotten”, i.e. the right to demand that personal data is modified of deleted. On the other hand, data on blockchains is unchangeable in practice. It is one of its main characteristics, which makes it so reliable.

Many companies have been developing blockchain-related projects, but as sanctions on the new law will be up to €20 million it is expected that those companies abandon such projects.

Which companies in this space actually do store personal data on a blockchain? Transactional data is not affected by this directive, which is what blockchains usually consist of. Transactional data can usually be decoupled from personally identifiable data.

Besides, it seems to only affect private, permissioned blockchains, which to me still looks more like snakeoil rather than a viable use case.

It does affect the handling of KYC/AML though. ICOs operating in the EU will need to be able to comply with this directive.

Beclecam

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Quote from: Don Pedro Dinero on March 29, 2018, 01:41:26 AM

EU new regulation on data, which will come into effect in May is based on “The right to be forgotten”, i.e. the right to demand that personal data is modified of deleted. On the other hand, data on blockchains is unchangeable in practice. It is one of its main characteristics, which makes it so reliable.

Many companies have been developing blockchain-related projects, but as sanctions on the new law will be up to €20 million it is expected that those companies abandon such projects.

It seems this won’t affect bitcoin and cryptos, as the law only applies to companies, and blockchain in these cases is held by individuals.

More info:

https://iapp.org/news/a/blockchain-technology-is-on-a-collision-course-with-eu-privacy-law/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten

I think that is one reason the 2018 bitcoin market and cryptos are always down. I hope there is something that can change with the bitcoin market and cryptos grow as fast as the end of 2017.

Don Pedro Dinero

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The first decentralized crypto betting platform

EU new regulation on data, which will come into effect in May is based on “The right to be forgotten”, i.e. the right to demand that personal data is modified of deleted. On the other hand, data on blockchains is unchangeable in practice. It is one of its main characteristics, which makes it so reliable.

Many companies have been developing blockchain-related projects, but as sanctions on the new law will be up to €20 million it is expected that those companies abandon such projects.

It seems this won’t affect bitcoin and cryptos, as the law only applies to companies, and blockchain in these cases is held by individuals.

More info:

https://iapp.org/news/a/blockchain-technology-is-on-a-collision-course-with-eu-privacy-law/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten

Topic: Blockchain could be illegal in the European Union. - page 2. (Read 320 times)