Internet Censorship
Internet censorship can be described as the control or suppression of what may be viewed, accessed, or published in the Internet space. It may be superimposed by governments or by private organisations at governments’ and regulators’ behest or following their own initiative.
The degree of censorship differs from country to country. While in the majority of democratic states, the Internet censorship is low to moderate, there are other countries that restrict access to information or even suppress citizen discussion in countries, such as North Korea or China.
In today’s world, we are facing the challenge of publishing our content with the ever-rising threat of it being stolen, spied upon, or even banned by big players or governments. There is a solution and it is called DECENT.
What is DECENT
Driven by torrent-like seeding protocols and blockchain technology, the platform DECENT has been crafted to eliminate manipulation by third parties, avert content piracy, and safeguard user privacy. Being Open-Source and utilising Blockchain with the intention to guarantee security, DECENT can be described as a Platform for Decentralised Content Distribution.
The ground-breaking network of DECENT profits the storage, publishing, and circulation of digital data, such as blogs, articles, photos, movies, and music. The start-up, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, has thus far issued public investors of more than $4 million of DCT – its digital currency.
Offline Presence, Vision, and Mission of DECENT
Besides the headquarters in Geneva, DECENT has already established offices in Shanghai, China, and in the Silicon Valley of Armenia and its capital city – Yerevan. Hence, with operating hubs across the world, the platform would more easily permeate into local markets.
The long-term vision of DECENT is establishing a trustworthy and fully integrated wide-reaching system for distribution of digital content where the communication flow will be secured and underpinned by the blockchain mechanism.
In its mission statement, the company has written that it desires “to become a liaison between various industries by bridging the gap between the emerging blockchain ecosystems”.
Software Sale
The Software Sale of DECENT is a unique opportunity to turn into one of the basic elements of the blockchain-navigated and decentralised future of media. The profits from the sale will be mainly utilised for the development of the future launches of DECENT, for its maintenance, and for optimising its protocols.
Its digital currency – DCT – provides for persons or organisations to sell, buy, and share original digital content without the restrictions and/or influence stemming from third parties. It also acts as an anti-spam shield and as a reward for miners/seeders (or publishers in the terminology of DECENT). DCT is not only a cryptocurrency but also the driving power of the network – the software tool which makes the system work.
Together with the Software Sale progress, will increase the primary value of DCT, meaning that the early supporters will get higher bonuses for a smaller value.
The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of the start-up began on September 11th 2016. While those who would like to take part do not pay for subscribing, later on, they can establish an account and join the offering. The participants can either use a cryptocurrency, such as Shapeshift, or Bitcoins (BTC). Check out the ICO guide to find more information in relation to currencies.
What Makes DECENT Stand Out
The start-up’s Open Source protocol permits application developers to construct different apps with design specificities and various functionalities in accordance with their very own needs. These might be:
- Software Sale.
- Cost-effective Publishing of Academic Papers.
- Decentralised Netflix (VOD): It can be integrated with Apple TV, Chromecast, or Smart TVs.
- Publishing of Electronic Newspapers.
- Channel for Publishing and Blogging.
- Cost-effective Video and Audio Streaming.
- Photo Sharing similar to Shutterstock.
- Publishing of E-books similar to Amazon.
- Publishing of Music similar to Soundcloud.
How Does It Work
An author uses the platform to add media files or write and organise his/her content. When he/she is satisfied with the result, the author publishes the articles/media. After that, he/she is capable of putting a price tag on the content, selecting a part of it which will be free, and adding metadata.
After that, the DECENT platform will encrypt the content (be it a media file, article or blog post), search for, and find publishers.
Content-thirsty consumers will be looking for content to satiate their interests. Once they have found it, they will be able to subscribe to their favourite authors with the intention of receiving updates about newly published articles and receiving recommendations on the basis of their own preferences.
Users can decide whether to purchase the rest of an article after they have downloaded and viewed the “free to read” part of it. The fee for each article is specified by its author.
How to Use the Platform
Users can either download the apps that have been built using the DECENT protocol directly to their smartphones, use its Web version, or download the Desktop application. In addition, it’s possible to embed the platform into already existing apps.
Making use of the platform is free of charge. Consumers only need to pay for the content they would like to receive. The creators have successfully dodged the high publishing costs by utilising the blockchain solution and cutting off the middlemen in the process.
How Can One Get DECENT Tokens
In order to do that, you primarily need to involve yourself in the crowd sale which is intended for Q1 of the next year. Throughout the sale, you will be able to buy DCT tokens for bitcoins.
In the second place, you can turn yourself into a publisher and by helping the platform function, you will earn tokens for yourself.
And thirdly, you will be capable of exchanging other cryptocurrencies for DCTs by using the exchange markets.
The so-called “miners” here are the publishers themselves.
Worldwide Support
The DECENT Foundation is continuously supported by grand enterprises, such as Google, and has established many partners around the world ranging from Bitrush, CCM, and Bitcoin News to Blockvalue, Bitalo, and Blockchain News.
Forbes also published an article about the foundation, describing it as an idea that will transfigure the market.
Follow DECENT on Facebook, their Slack channel or Telegram group to be a part of the digital revolution.
Hung Thai
This sounds interesting. I hadn’t thought about content censorship before but I guess that does exist and brings up a good point about how our content gets around. I’ll look into this more.
Svet
It really was interesting to read and write about it. We need to both better express and better protect ourselves.