News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by NegativeLatency on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @06:06PM (#17510647)
I don't understand your answer. Can you explain more clearly what the process would be for removing personal info?
Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by markerdmann on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @07:47PM (#17511150)
By design, a public blockchain is an immutable record maintained by a decentralized network where no central authority has the power to go back and remove something from the record. This makes the blockchain an exciting technology for resisting censorship, but it also means that if someone adds your personal data to the blockchain, your options for removing it are very limited. You would need to shut down all nodes in the network or convince all nodes in the network to agree to a hard fork. In the latter case, nodes that don't join the fork would continue to have the private data.

That's true for unencrypted information stored directly on the blockchain. For applications where you need the ability to delete data and don't need strong censorship resistance, one solution is to store private data off-chain and only store the location and hash of the data in the blockchain. This article discusses that idea in detail:

https://medium.com/wearetheledger/the-blockchain-gdpr-parado...

Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by Sir_Substance on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @06:51PM (#17510861)
I can't see any obvious place to download this dirt protocol so I can check (the website seems to be 100% marketing, 0% documentation), but based on a combination of pattern recognition and the evasiveness of the above answer, I would wager the answer is "there is no process, we didn't think about data deletion".
Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by yinyinwu on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @07:33PM (#17511079)
Hi there - We are auditing our smart contracts prior to launch and plan to open source them. If you are interested in trying out the protocol on launch, send us a note.

Per GDPR specifically, I am learning about the regulations and my understanding is that the right to be forgotten focuses on personal information. Personal information is not a great fit for DIRT registries because it is not publicly verifiable. The concept of voting to determine correctness works best if that data is public and observable.

Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by NegativeLatency on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @07:13PM (#17510969)
Yeah sounded to me like: "It's a feature!"
Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by Semirhage on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @07:14PM (#17510981)
You’re being generous... this reeks more of scam than carelessness. Either way, it’s going to never actually be delivered, not be GDPR complient, and based on the answers to questions raised here, full of obvious holes. If it isn’t just a scam, it smells like someone went from “here’s a neat idea I’ve spent a whole ten minutes on,” to fundraising without a beat in between.

No resistance to censorship.

No resistance to conflicting information.

More money = more “truth” with no recourse, because removing info costs.

Incorrect info loses you money, but there is no functional systemic way to determine correct/incorrect.

Waaaaay too much marketing and nothing else extant.

Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by paulie_a on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @08:07PM (#17511229)
For most of the planet GDPR is irrelevant. I personally will never give it any thought when building something.
Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by Semirhage on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @08:29PM (#17511331)
Failing to give thought to something doesn’t make it go away, but of course it’s your right not to think. As long as you understand that ideology and opinion aside, it can greatly impact your ability to do business in Europe, then you go be you.

Most companies don't do business in Europe.

As defined under GDPR? I’d love citations for that claim.

Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by paulie_a on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @08:35PM (#17511352)
Most companies don't do business in Europe.
Re:DIRT Protocol raises $3M to build a Wikipedia for structu... by Aeolun on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @09:03PM (#17511467)
That's an interesting argument.

But unfortunately, it was beaten out by 2%.

https://www.inc.com/anne-gherini/fifty-two-percent-of-us-bus...