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November 04, 2015, 11:33:42 AM |
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First of all, ownership (or "right to use") of a file is difficult to enforce without ugly DRM mechanisms that usually only work in an asymmetric producer/consumer relationship where producers do not only distribute content but also control the hardware/firmware that's being used to consume the content.
A blockchain mechanism can only be used to document rights, not enforce them. Ownership of bitcoins is enforced by the transaction mechanism and the fact that all nodes and miners (ideally) adhere to the same rules, which always ensures that a majority of the network will reject transactions that don't conform to the rules. Control over some information can not be enforced in such a way. There is no mechanism (except for the aforementioned ugly DRM) that can enforce that you don't create a copy of a file before you transfer it to someone else. Of course, a blockchain can be used as a ledger documenting arbitrary legal statements, and such a ledger can be very useful to resolve issues when one party claims that the other party broke their contract. It can never prevent anybody from breaking a contract, and it can neither ensure that such breaking can be detected.
Onkel Paul
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