The Intersection of Blockchain, Mirror Domains, and Censorship: What’s at Stake?

Key Points

1. Governments in countries like China, Iran, India, Turkey, and Russia are increasingly censoring the web, leading to blocked websites and restricted access to news portals.

2. Mirror domains serve as a first response to censorship by replicating blocked sites, but they are often taken down by hosting providers or DNS services under legal pressure.

3. Blockchain technology offers decentralization and immutability, enabling websites that are harder to censor, as highlighted by Sara Zhang, CTO of a blockchain infrastructure startup.

4. A truly uncensorable web could also host illegal or harmful content, raising ethical concerns, as noted by digital ethics scholar Dr. Jonas Weir.

5. Anonymity in blockchain can protect users but also enable illicit activities, as seen with blockchain-based dark web alternatives, according to policy advisor Nisha Verma.

6. Web3 aims for a censorship-free internet with user-owned identities and monetization, but critics warn it may replicate existing power imbalances without proper regulation.

7. The article concludes that blockchain could be key to digital freedom but questions the ethical and regulatory costs of an uncensorable web.