LightningLightning for

Journalism

I am Janine (@J9Roem). Investigative journalist Privacy researcher Co-host Block Digest

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3 Hackdays, 1 Conference ⚡⬡ Lightning Hackday #1 : April 28th 2018⬡ Lightning Hackday #2 : June 23rd 2018⬡ Lightning Hackday #3 : September 1st 2018⬡ Lightning Conference! : October 19-20th 2019

Food & drinks for bitcoin! 77 Graefestrasse, 10967 Berlin3

Journalism has problemsJournalism has problems...

Political● Inconsistent or

scarce legal protections

● Censorship

Economic● Under-funding● Misaligned incentives● Aging audience● Missing attribution

Technical● Security threats● Centralized

infrastructure● Disinformation bots

& gamed algorithms

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See: “Revision-Controlled Journalism and the Dispersion of Interpretive Power” (2018)

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WikiLeaks● Extra-judicial censorship

in retaliation for leaks (since 2010)

● Deputized banks & financial companies to impose a blockade

(Bank of America, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union, even the Swiss-based PostFinance)

Apple, the NBA● Fear of offending funders,

team owners, broadcasters, access to Chinese markets

● NBA: Confiscating signs; damage control when teams show support

● Apple: Shutting down apps or blocking their use by Hong Kong protesters

TeleSUR● Intra-regional censorship● Removed by television

networks operating in EC● Social media disrupted● Ecuadorian government

and president Moreno trying to cover up police brutality in Quito

#EcuadorEnCrisis

6Liabilities cross borders. Rights (usually) don’t.

7Media Imperialism: Powerful nations struggle to impose their interests

Trying to fix it all withTrying to fix it all with...

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Blockchains, blockchains everywhereBlockchains, blockchains everywhere!

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““Blockchain Journalism”Blockchain Journalism”

● Founded in July 2016● Blogging and social

media platform● Dedicated blockchain

for content storage● Several coins / tokens

(Steem, Steem Dollars, Steem Power)

● Founded in 2017● ConsenSys spoke● “Self-governing”

newsrooms● Ethereum blockchain

for content storage● ERC-20 token (CVL)

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“ I’m not paying for storage; I’m paying for decentralized archiving.

– Civil Media partner...who shall not be named here

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More thanMore than50 tweets later...50 tweets later...

13Where are they now?

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Stop abusing blockchains as Stop abusing blockchains as content storage systems!content storage systems!

For goodness’ sake... use OpenTimestamps.

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BitcoinBitcoin + + LightningLightning offersoffers...

Privacy

Micropayments“Streaming Money”

CensorshipResistance

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BitcoinBitcoin offersoffers...CensorshipResistance

➢ Peer-to-peer globally distributed ‘timestamp server’“The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work. The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of CPU power.”

“The timestamp proves that the data must have existed at the time, obviously, in order to get into the hash.”

– Satoshi Nakamoto (2008)

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BitcoinBitcoin offersoffers...CensorshipResistanceWL has utilized Bitcoin for funding & publishing.

➢ Example: Cablegate file embedded in 2013

“Bitcoin's real innovation is a globally verifiable proof publishing at a certain time.” (September 2014)

“While it’s intellectually entertaining, the problem with it is this — it’s very complicated... experts might be able to, but the average person can’t and so then you’re back to a social proof. Does the average person trust the expert?” (January 2017)

– Julian Assange

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BitcoinBitcoin + + LightningLightning offersoffers...CensorshipResistance

➢ Blocking the broadcast of transactions is difficult:Any node could be an entry point.Transactions could be embedded in other content types.

➢ Reversing a transaction is computationally expensive:The cost of censorship increases rapidly from the moment a transaction / block is confirmed.It takes too long to contact, convince, and coordinate stakeholders out-of-band in a decentralised ecosystem, especially when it goes against their economic incentive.

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BitcoinBitcoin + + LightningLightning offersoffers...CensorshipResistance

➢ Source routingIntermediate nodes can block payments, but with sufficient interconnection, alternative paths are always available.Other nodes will want to disconnect from censorship nodes to reduce routing failures, thereby limiting their effectiveness.

➢ Onion routingSince sender and recipient are obscured, it is difficult to target the payments from a particular originator.

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BitcoinBitcoin + + LightningLightning offersoffers...Privacy

➢ Advertised vs. non-advertised channels:Since end users don’t need a complete view of the network graph, nodes can create private channels that are only accessible via “routing hints”

➢ Onion routing:Intermediate nodes in the payment path only know the identity of their immediate predecessor and successor in the route (like the Tor network)

from: “Exploring Lightning Network Routing”

Message

Routing Key B

Routing Key A

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But bewareBut beware...Privacy

Attack vectorsat the wallet level

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But bewareBut beware...Privacy

➢ Lightning Peach’s privacy policy claimed they collected and shared user data, including: phone number, location, channel and payment details.

➢ When challenged about this, BitFury claimed they didn’t collect this data, or if they did, that it was optional... which contradicted their Terms of Service.

➢ BitFury / Lightning Peach has since changed their policies and added a “privacy mode” in their suite.

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BitcoinBitcoin + + LightningLightning offersoffers...Micropayments

“What happens when we start streaming money? If we can do payments that are on a millisecond frequency, as low as a satoshi, why not get your salary paid every minute?”

– Andreas M. Antonopoulos“The Internet of Money: Volume 2” (Chapter 9)

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Chunky vs. Streaming Money:Chunky vs. Streaming Money:Micropayments

Chunky Streaming

Salary PatronageCrowd-funding

Pay perarticle

Pay perword

Pay perminute,second

Real-timeWeekly /

monthly / yearly Hourly

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Why not use bothWhy not use both?Micropayments

➢ Reduce the barrier to expanding your audienceBecause subscription-based models struggle with how to convince new readers that they are worth the trouble of a long sign-up process and the cost of monthly or yearly commitment.

➢ Patronage = more stability & sustainabilityBecause pay-per-article models are cognitively taxing on loyal readers who plan to stick around for the long-term.The journalist’s income will be subject to more fluctuation.

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BitcoinBitcoin + + LightningLightningApps for JournalismApps for Journalism⬡ Yalls.org (demo)⬡ Lightning Publisher for WordPress⬡ LibrePatron (self-hosted)

28Writer’s Perspective Reader’s Perspective

Alex BosworthLightning Labs

29Writer’s Perspective Reader’s Perspective

Nadav IvgiElements Project

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Creator’s Perspective

Patron’s Perspective

Jeff Vandrew Jr.Attorney, Developer

“Launching LibrePatron a Self-Hosted Patreon Alternative powered by Bitcoin”

““Benevolent” Billionaire ModeBenevolent” Billionaire Mode

● Based in New York, U.S.● Owned by, and will share office

with, Digital Currency Group ● DCG CEO Barry Silbert has

reported net worth of $500 million

● Based in New York, U.S.● ConsenSys spokes; provides majority funding,

legal counsel, and infrastructure (ETH, IPFS)● Infura (owned by ConsenSys) controls nodes

used by more than 50% of Ethereum “DApps”● ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin has a reported

net worth between $1-5 billion

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“ Where you put your money Where you put your money is where you put your power.is where you put your power.

– Julian Assange ‘The Internet and Economics,’ pg. 102

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➢ “Aliena” slide template:➢ Icons: Slides Carnival

LibreOffice Impress GalleryFeather Icons | MIT LicenseCopyright (c) 2013-2017 Cole Bemis

➢ Emojis: Twitter design

Thanks / Danke!Questions / Fragen?

I will stick around.Feel free to ask me later!

Credits: