Recently, we’ve started seeing more and more government institutions getting involved with blockchain technology, thanks to the latter’s virtually unlimited potential. The UK Ministry of Justice is the latest to join this race, as it is now researching the blockchain’s potential role in conducting criminal prosecutions.
Blockchain Technology to Provide Better Data Security
The information released by Alistair Davidson in a blog post states that the blockchain network could provide better data storage for digital forms of criminal evidence such as video footage, documents, and emails. According to Davidson, in this application of blockchain technology, the ledger would be viewable by anyone, yet only modifiable and writable by law enforcement agencies. It would benefit criminal investigation teams by providing verifiable records, while also increasing the transparency of data that needs to be shared with the public.
Additionally, using blockchain technology in this way would bring about cryptographically verifiable forms of data, identical to that which was originally recorded. This would reduce the chances of others tampering with evidence.
The blog post noted:
As the blockchain is distributed, append-only, and near real-time, even the most ardent conspiracy theorists could verify for themselves that the evidence has not been tampered with – there could be no possibility of records being falsified after the fact without detection. Of course, this is only a “thought experiment” at this stage, and there are many hurdles to overcome for a real-world implementation. But the possibilities of revolutionary technology to transform not just government, but society as a whole, are genuinely exciting.
Based on these points, what are your thoughts regarding the UK Ministry of Justice considering the use of blockchain technology for criminal data storage? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
