Blockchain technology is, in theory, capable of providing a censorship-resistant environment. Arweave, a company exploring this option, has recently raised another $8.3 million in funding.
The concept behind Arweave is relatively simple to explain.
Arweave Makes the Permaweb a Reality
The company is confident its self-developed blockchain can provide a censorship-resistant solution.
Any information uploaded to the blockchain will remain stored for a hundred years.
Customers are asked to pay upfront for this privilege, but the cost equals less than $0.01 per megabyte.
If this solution becomes more popular, costs for storing data will continue to decline over time.
According to Arweave, this solution should be referred to as the “permaweb”, where information will remain accessible.
Over one million data files are already stored on this blockchain, and 200 apps have been developed.
One application constantly crawls Weibo for content likely to be censored.
For example, information pertaining to the novel coronavirus in China is being recorded on the permaweb.
With another $8.3 million in funding, this blockchain-based effort can keep growing and expanding.
No one should ever have sensitive information censored by a centralized entity.
Unfortunately, that censoring of critical information happens a lot more often than most people realize.
Solutions like these are crucial for the future, and the permaweb may be a good way to solve these problems.
