Page 73 - Proceedings of the 2017 ITU Kaleidoscope

Challenges for a data-driven society

current Internet and return decentralization to the Web. As the production of additional copies of an item is almost
shown in Table 1, blockchain enhances Internet’s original cost-free once the initial production of costs have been paid.
data commons potential thanks to its rewards system and With the arrival of the Internet, the concept of the
improves Web’s security in P2P exchanges through its Commons was applied to data that people would voluntarily
embedded cryptographic identities. share on the web (e.g.: Open Source software, Wikipedia,
etc). This was named Data Commons. Although the Data
Table 1. Internet-based technologies. Commons initiative is closer to Rifkin’s theory than
Features comparison (Source: Author`s elaboration) historical implementations of the Commons, there is still a
‘tragedy of the Data Commons’. The Tragedy of the data
Internet DLT Blockchain Commons has been defined as the failure to anonymize data
1990 1999 2008 shared on the internet to safely build a common wealth of
Universal information [12]. It is argued that, under current internet
[all nodes speak protocols, malefactors can reverse-engineer shared data and
the same identify individuals within data sets or even claim
language] ownership to economically benefit from common data. With
Platform blockchain this will no longer exist since privacy and
[commons with
no single point reward mechanisms native to the technology allow for a
of failure] safe and remunerated sharing of data that will incentivize
Decentralized proprietary-knowledge exchange actions and therefore
[no centralized make information even more accessible, trustable and of
control of higher quality. Here is where, mostly, the following
nodes] proposal on blockchain for standards leverages on.
Network
[secure and 3. PRIMARY ROLE OF STANDARDS IS
trustful P2P SUPPORTING TRADE OF GOODS AND SERVICES.
exchanges] CAN THIS BE BETTER SUPPORTED WITH A
Distributed BLOCKCHAIN-BASED MODEL?
[no central
permission to Indeed, blockchain can bring the anticipatory and market
post anything] predictive capacities that current standards development do
Ledgered not have. For long time, the standards community has been
[immutable and pledging for standards harmonization and integration with
integral record policies and regulations. At International level, the WTO
keeping Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the
9
Disruptive EU New Approach initiative, are efforts in this direction.
10
[incentives- However, current standardization development models in
based network both SDOs and NSOs are ‘permissioned’ -only opened
12
11
of trust] to paying or accredited members-, which limits standards
harmonization and integration capabilities since expert
Blockchain is a P2P network that sits on top of the Internet. knowledge from external stakeholders cannot be included
The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (and it can be very necessary at a particular point during
(TCP/IP), with its appearance in 1992, unlocked new standards development, to delve into a specific knowledge
economic value of connectivity by dramatically lowering area of the standard).
the cost of connections [8]. The blockchain will not only In order to make standards development less restrictive and
greatly reduce the cost of transactions -and make them not to limit expert knowledge participation, we propose a
safer-, it will also uncompromise identity since transactions blockchain-based model for standards drafting which will
are encrypted trough cryptographic private keys.
In European history, the Commons were lands to be shared 9 https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/tbt_e.htm
freely by all members of an agrarian community [9]. 10 http://www.newapproach.org/
However, not all experiences of the Commons have been 11 SDOs stands for Standards Development Organizations and
successful as anticipated by William Foster Lloyd, with the includes the three international standards bodies, the ISO
concept Tragedy of the Commons [10]. According to his (International Standards Organization), the IEC (International
1833 essay, where he laid out the concept, individual users Electrotechnical Commission) and the ITU (International
in a group, acting independently according to their own self- Telecommunications Union). Within the SDOs, a distinction is
interest, will behave contrary to the common good of all made for the ESOs (European Standards Organizations), which
include the following: CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation),
users by depleting or spoiling the shared resource through the CENELEC (Comité Européen de Normalisation
their collective action. As later advised by Rifkin [11], any Electrotechnique), and the ETSI (European Telecommunications
institution of the Commons works best with initiatives that Standards Institute)
have near zero marginal cost, what Rifkin defines as where 12 The National Standards Organizations (NSOs) are
standardization bodies of different countries

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