OpEd: The Dark Side of Data: How Blockchain Could Enable Digital Tyranny

Data is a tool of enslavement in the wrong hands. Blockchain is an amazing way to store data. Both public and private blockchain ledgers offer advantages from a data-gathering perspective – but the risks to human rights are enormous.

It’s time to talk about hope and lies. Blockchain might not seem like it is connected to these human drivers – but we assure you that it is!

Price action is the hot topic in crypto media. We should know – scroll through the content we post (and read as many as you can please). People love reading about tokens that deliver life changing gains. But the real story in this space is data.

Most people operate at the “livestock” level of the global data economy. They are the bleating sheep on TikTok, the wannabe YouTuber, or the online content addict (porn or shopping – take your pick – it’s all dopamine). But that isn’t what we are here to discuss.

Blockchain is a powerful tool in the big data economy. And it could be extremely dangerous.

The Positive: Blockchain Has Incredible Potential

Here is the situation – we are positive on blockchain as a technology. Especially when it creates transparency in complex systems. Clearly we aren’t talking about cryptos directly – but blockchain as a technology as a whole.

Blockchain has the ability to simplify tasks in a complex system – like saving lives when there is contaminated food.

Walmart Requires Veggie Suppliers to use Blockchain to Trace Contamination

The problem is – these blockchain-based big data systems can be used for almost anything. In the article above we used contaminated food as an example – but in a different use case – political dissidents could be identified and rounded up quickly.

Not that the system has to be blockchain-based to be dangerous (or useful) but blockchain has some unique features that make it specifically powerful.

Blockchain Doesn’t Forget

Unlike a regular ledger – blockchain tends to be a one way street. Once the data is added to the blockchain, it is there forever. For a system like Bitcoin, this is perfect. However, when it comes to other kinds of data – this feature may not be ideal.

An immutable ledger could be a big problem when it comes to personal data. At the moment we still have a decent legal system in most Western nations. If this shifts, and there is a CCP-style dictatorship in the future, all that data could be a big issue for human rights.

If you don’t understand what we mean – read this:

Op-Ed: Beyond Bitcoin, The Uncomfortable Truth About Blockchain Privacy

Needless to say – there are risks when it comes to blockchain and big data.

Sleeping Sheep to The Slaughter

The big data issue is compounded by the fact that people don’t seem to understand how data collection works – or why it matters.

The recent TikTok drama makes this point very clear. The internet is going wild over the maybe / maybe not TikTok ban – but little discussion seems to address the risks surrounding the platform.

TikTok is designed to suck up your data!

Much like Facebook or X – your data is the business of these platforms. In the case of TikTok – your data is being beamed back to China for the CCP to use in any way they want.

The Western sheeple are so blind to what is essentially spyware – they scream about free speech while they sign up to another CCP-based social media platform that is a free speech travesty!

Why people believe CCP propaganda is beyond our ability to reason. The CCP lies – about a lot. From its GDP to the Uyghur genocide – the CCP traffics in dangerous lies.

TikTok was designed to collect data and keep users addicted to being on the app. Temu isn’t far from TikTok from a data gathering perspective. The CCP understands how valuable user data is – and now they are tapping blockchain to store it at a state level.

China is The Model

China is a technocracy. Much like the Stalinist model its based on – the CCP rolled out a digital prison state that is almost impossible to escape. The vast majority of the Chinese population is monitored on a 24/7 basis – speech is totally controlled – and dissent is punished harshly.

Everything that is said about President Trump’s totalitarian desires (true or not) is literally happening in the CCP’s China RIGHT NOW. Including genocide.

Adding to the fun is the CCP’s pivot to blockchain development. In its new “National Data Infrastructure Construction Guidelines” – China is putting blockchain at the center of its future data infrastructure.

So in the coming years – China will use blockchain to record data about everyone in China – and anyone who is sheepish enough to use Chinese-made apps and hardware. It is a data-driven nightmare.

While we can’t know for sure what the CCP is planning – we can say that its not hard to know how the CCP operates – and what it is capable of when allowed to operate freely.

In the case of its new blockchain-based system – China wants to have full-spectrum data dominance with a blockchain nexus that connects every part of society. Businesses, government, and private individuals will all be part of the CCP’s future blockchain data prison!

No Way Out?

The data collection infrastructure in the West is similar to what exists in China. All the big parts are in place today. Two big differences between the West and China is due process of law and human rights protected by things like the Bill of Rights in the USA (for example – there are others).

People are poorly educated when it comes to how the modern digital economy actually works. They are easily lied to by savvy state actors – and their naive nature is used to manipulate them.

It would be nice to think that President Trump is a sea-change in Western politics – but we know he is not. From neocon appointments in his cabinet to VP Vance’s connections to Peter Thiel – the next US administration is poised to hand control over to the highest bidder.

Blockchain is an amazing technology – but it can easily become part of a growing global data prison. In the West we still have the chance to resist. They lost their ability to fight back in China – we hope people realize what is actually happening – and stop TikToking their way into digital slavery.