Will GDPR obstruct Blockchain?

Have you got occasional email telling you that an Internet site is updating its privacy policy or terms of service? Last week these kinds of emails became a torrent in my inbox. The thing they all have in common is the date - 25 May 2018 - the day the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect.

GDPR is a unified privacy regulation which harmonizes the various and disparate legal frameworks that cover the more than half of A billion European data issues, or how I prefer to call them, individuals. GDPR gives articulated rights to individuals above their data so that the phrase "You own the data about you" has significance.

These rights are enshrined in European law but making them actionable has not been simple. Adding complexity to the job is the fact that technology has a habit of shifting rapidly. It is well known that technology frequently leapfrogs ahead of present regulatory frameworks, leaving legislators and regulators to play catch-up. Consider the instance of the blockchain.

Blockchain has been around as a concept since 2008, however, it's only lately exploded into public consciousness via valuations of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Many technologists believe that the blockchain will be more transformational than the Web itself.

But whilst a lot of people equate the blockchain to bitcoins and crypto, they aren't the same. The blockchain is a cryptographic secure transaction record that is created without a central authority.