A report out today discusses how students in China are making most of sophisticated use of the Ethereum blockchain in order to inspire a branch of the movement, #MeToo. #MeToo is part of a worldwide campaign to highlight instances of sexual assault. Inspired by allegations of sexual assault in the film industry, #MeToo encourages women (particularly) to speak out against instances of sexual assault that would otherwise go undetected in our patriarchal society. Now Quartz Media have published a report that discusses how this movement, in China specifically are taking to the Ethereum blockchain to provide an encrypted communication platform. As we know, censorship in China is rife, therefore political movements that are considered anti-establishment, must use intelligent methods to evade censorship protocol, otherwise communication would be impossible. According to Quartz:
“Chinese internet users have seen posts referring to the country’s #MeToo movement disappear from WeChat, Weibo, and other popular social networks in recent weeks. In particular, posts about an alleged decades-old cover-up at Peking University, one of the most prestigious universities in China, seems to have attracted the attention of government censors. Students at the school are calling for faculty to investigate the case of Gao Yan, a college student who committed suicide in 1998 after alleging she was sexually assaulted by a professor who remained on the faculty for years. For embittered activists though, there’s some hope, thanks to the blockchain.”
The Peking University petition letter has now been stamped on ethereum so it can never be scraped from the web. Meanwhile posts on the same topic are disappearing from WeChat fast. Quite the symbolic move pic.twitter.com/zVF3utlUnx
— Lulu Yilun Chen (@luluyilun) April 24, 2018
This tweet from Bloomberg China tech reporter, Lulu Yilun Chen highlights that now evidence of this assault exists on the blockchain, no authority can ever deny its existence. This is a powerful application for Ethereum’s blockchain. As we know, Ethereum was designed to allow people to do just this sort of thing, whilst some applications of Ethereum are questionable at best, this is providing a real platform for change, motivating a worldwide movement. We must consider the implications of this, could this go on to encourage more activists to start using blockchain technology? Moreover, could this inspire more people to start using cryptocurrency? I believe so. This could have a positive impact on the markets, as well as society on the whole. Featured Image Original Source: Pixabay
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