Should I start an article with opinion? Probably not, but I am no NFT/Blockchain enthusiast.
He refers to last year's power grid problems (February 2021) in Texas, and we've been told to expect brownouts this coming summer. How are power hogs, like NFTs and blockchain-reliant "coins" going to be safe if the power is cut, and a server farm goes dark.
For that matter, do those who want to go cold turkey on fossil fuels realize how much else is made from fossil fuels... like plastic, and anesthetics, and dentures, and lipstick, and deodorant, and refrigerators?
So much for the Green New Deal.
"Nine Chinese firms are among the top 10 in terms of blockchain patent family numbers, including Ant Group, Ping An Group, China Unicom, and Baidu. The patents filed by the nine firms accounted for almost one-third of all blockchain patent filings worldwide. The only non-Chinese business in the top ten is IBM."
In part:
"....A blockchain is an append-only electronic database that stores data chronologically. Once a transaction is minted (submitted and validated), it is cryptically secured and becomes a block on the blockchain. Since the blockchain is decentralized, identical copies can then be distributed among thousands of unaffiliated computers. The data is permanent and irreversible and can only be changed by creating a new block. What then are bitcoin, ETH, and NFTs and how do they fit into the picture – they are digital assets that run on blockchain infrastructure....."
The point of blockchain technology is that is it touted to be more secure and more private, but what happens when pirates pile in?
Mr. Christensen suggests a few possible problems:
"...As blockchain domains are minted, they are traded as a commodity on NFT marketplaces, where the purchase confers complete ownership to the domain name. As there is no central governing body for blockchain domain names, ownership is not subject to any DNS-related rules, including alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. A brief search on some NFT marketplaces reveals that domain names containing well-known trademarks are already being openly traded.
Blockchain domain names present several issues for brand owners, including using the domain names for cybersquatting, selling counterfeit goods and fraud. In its Digital Defense Report from October 2021, Microsoft termed blockchain domain names “the next big threat” as they are increasingly used to distribute malware...."
He makes suggestions, which are reminiscent of how back in the Oughts, we writers had to sign up for every social media platform possible to retain control of our own author names, and also to buy a variety of dot com domain names, so we didn't have to call ourselves "the real...".
He concludes ominously:
"...As blockchain technology becomes widely adopted, these issues will increase in scope, quantity, and complexity. It will prove to be a new battleground for brand owners everywhere in the not-so-distant future."
If finding piracy and sending takedown notices was bad enough whack-a-mole, now the mole is a hydra. The blockchain makes copyright self-protection almost impossible. Pirates can mint knockoff NFTs with nothing more than a digital file and some cryptocurrency, then sell those knockoffs to unsuspecting collectors. NFT piracy may force change.
Legal bloggers P. Cramer and D. Munkittrick of Proskauer Rose LLP explain the potential for a piracy boom.
https://www.blockchainandthelaw.com/2022/03/will-nft-piracy-compel-changes-to-the-digital-millennium-copyright-act/#page=1
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=4f3cc996-c4c7-4196-8580-f665d2a0f1b1
As they conclude:
"... Amidst the resulting piracy boom, it falls to creators to protect both their fans and their IP by scanning platforms for infringing NFT sale listings and issue takedown requests. But even when they succeed in getting a sale listing removed, the knockoff NFT itself remains immutably on its blockchain and the infringing content usually remains elsewhere on the web..."
So, all that considered, I'm not an enthusiast.
All the best,
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