Mirror opens access to its blockchain blogging platform to all

October 6, 2021 Coin Telegraph

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The Mirror Protocol now accepts any contributor as long as they have an Ethereum address and wallet.

Ethereum-based decentralized blogging platform Mirror has opened its doors to the wider public after months of running vote-based contributions only.

Mirror was launched in December 2020 to enable selected writers to publish on the decentralized blogging platform. Contributors could gain access by getting voted for in weekly competitions using the platform’s native token WRITE, with just ten content creators selected per week.

In an announcement on Oct. 6, Mirror stated that it has now done away with this system and has opened up to anyone with an Ethereum address and wallet. Unlike most large commercial blogging platforms that sell advertising to traffic generated by content, publishers on Mirror control their own content as it is stored on a decentralized blockchain instead of company servers.

That content is cryptographically secure so cannot be modified or corrupted and users can exit the platform with all of their data if they no longer wish to be a part of it. The Mirror team elaborated:

“Mirror has evolved from a tool for writers to a full-stack web3 creative suite for communities and DAOs.”

Publishing on Mirror is Now Open to All

Connect your wallet and start a decentralized blog in seconds.https://t.co/fWQgr0Ssc4
— Mirror (@viamirror) October 5, 2021

Once an Ethereum wallet is connected, users can start creating content and embedding media blocks such as videos, iFrames, social media posts, NFTs, auctions, and crowdfunds. Blogs can also be imported from other platforms such as Medium or Substack.

Mirror users can share and fund their own work using the platform and the integration of Ethereum addresses.

Blogs can be minted as what the platform terms “Entry Editions” which are a way for users to create NFTs of content and potentially monetize it.

Industry leaders such as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and a number of DAOs such as the Aave Grants DAO have used the platform this year to publish content. In July, a documentary about the development of Ethereum used Mirror to raise 1,036 ETH from a crowdfund on the platform.

Content creators that used Mirror’s previous method of allowing writers to contribute, called the WRITE Race, will be offered additional incentives such as staking. The protocol’s native WRITE token, which was granted through the voting system to obtain publishing power on Mirror, has yet to be listed on major tracking websites or exchanges.

The project stated that it would be integrating the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and introducing new features such as subscriptions, feeds, and an improved editing interface.

It shouldn’t be confused with the DeFi protocol called Mirror Finance that uses the MIR token ticker and enables the minting of synthetic assets.

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Microsoft wants to use Ethereum blockchain to fight piracy

August 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

argus

The major software developer’s new plan to combat piracy relies on the transparency of blockchain technology.

Windows operating system and Office productivity suite have always been top performers on any software piracy platforms. So, it’s no wonder that Microsoft, the developer of both products, works hard to establish anti-piracy measures.

In a new paper released by Microsoft’s research department, with the participation of researchers from Alibaba and Carnegie Mellon University, the Redmond-based software giant studied a blockchain-based incentive system to bolster anti-piracy campaigns.

As the title of the research, Argus: A Fully Transparent Incentive System for Anti-Piracy Campaigns, suggests, Microsoft’s new system relies on the transparency aspect of blockchain technology. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Argus aims to provide a trustless incentive mechanism while protecting data collected from the open anonymous population of piracy reporters.

“We see this as a distributed system problem,” the paper stated, “In the implementation, we overcome a set of unavoidable obstacles to ensure security despite full transparency.”

Argus enables backtracing of pirated content to the source with a corresponding watermark algorithm detailed in the paper. Also named “proof of leakage,” each report of leaked content involves an information-hiding procedure. This way, no one but the informer can report the same watermarked copy without actually owning it.

The system also has incentive-reducing safeguards to prevent an informer from reporting the same leaked content over and over under different aliases. “With the security and practicality of Argus, we hope real-world antipiracy campaigns will be truly effective by shifting to a fully transparent incentive mechanism,” the report stated.

Detailing the issue of Ethereum network fees, the paper explained that the team optimized several cryptographic operations “so that the cost for piracy reporting is reduced to an equivalent cost of sending about 14 ETH-transfer transactions to run on the public Ethereum network, which would otherwise correspond to thousands of transactions.”

Tech companies worldwide have become increasingly concerned with protecting intellectual property and fighting digital piracy. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Tech Mahindra, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group, recently launched a new blockchain-based digital contracts and rights platform on IBM’s Hyperledger Fabric protocol for the media and entertainment industry.

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