Fantastic to hear from the Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson and Chair of the Select Committee for Science, Innovation and Technology Chi Onwurah MP on the opportunities web3 and blockchain technology can bring to the UK economy.
They are happy to preside over a state of utter chaos when it comes to the ownership and control of data, and allow a free-for-all to develop in artificial intelligence, algorithms, the internet of things and blockchain. In 2016, for example, the DWP secretly trialled the payment of benefits using shared ledger or blockchain technology. Despite the privacy implications of using a private company to put sensitive, highly personal data on to a shared ledger that could not be changed or deleted, we still do not know what the process was for approving the use of this technology or the outcome of the trial.
This statement expresses a strongly negative stance toward the government’s use of blockchain, particularly regarding data privacy, oversight, and transparency.