How tech is helping put past Latin American dictatorships in blockchains (www.axios.com)
from stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to technology@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2023 22:30
https://kbin.social/m/technology@lemmy.world/t/434758

Nonprofit groups are using blockchain and other technologies to digitize, safely preserve and make accessible key documents about past Latin American dictatorships, including their human rights abuses and information about their victims.

#technology

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TootSweet@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2023 22:51 next collapse

Which blockchain(s) exactly?

Edit: Actually, I’ll just explain why I ask.

Blockchains don’t really store big stuff. I just grabbed the first file I could find and it’s 2.8MB which is well larger than what would typically be stored on a blockchain.

(Yes, there are projects that store files on blockchains like, for instance, “ordinals”, but ordinals drastically tanked the Bitcoin network’s performance.)

Their website (admittedly via Google Translate) mentions that they store things on IPFS, but IPFS doesn’t run on a blockchain. Axios claimed they’re putting the documents on a blockchain. So are they misinformed and think IPFS runs on a blockchain or do they have reason to believe these files are being put not just on IPFS but also on an actual blockchain? (Or do they have reason to believe they’re putting NFTs on some blockchain somewhere pointing to the files in IPFS and calling that “in blockchains”?) Who knows.

Their website also mentions blockchain, but makes no claims as far as whether the files are stored on a blockchain or not. Only that they’re stored in IPFS.

Given that they don’t specify which blockchain but do mention blockchain, that makes me think either they’re just dusting the whole project with the word “blockchain” to generate hype. Or worse, the whole project is a scam.

Blockchains are at best a solution in search of a problem. In other words, completely useless. IPFS is a fine technology (aside from it’s proximity to Blockchain-related technologies like Filecoin) for sharing files. It’s certainly as useful as, say, BitTorrent. But IPFS isn’t itself a blockchain technology in any way.

SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2023 23:11 collapse

What does that even mean

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social on 07 Sep 2023 23:20 collapse

Some headline writer thought they really hit it out of the park with that pun.

SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world on 08 Sep 2023 01:09 collapse

Too bad they don’t even have their English degree to fall back on.