Blockchain-Technologien erobern immer mehr Aufmerksamkeit. Während der Hype um immer neue Kryptowährungen, Non-fungible Tokens und das “Web3” weitergeht, bringen Netztheoretiker:innen die kritische Diskussion auf ein neues Niveau: Wer profitiert zurzeit am meisten von Blockchain-Technologien und zu wessen Lasten? Inwiefern eliminieren heutige Blockchain-Systeme alte Mittelsleute und inwiefern begünstigen sie neue? Bei Wikimedia diskutierten wir eine Stunde lang über Machtverschiebungen, Gefahren und Gestaltungsspielräume im transaktionsorientierten Web.
Read More
In my previous role as advisor in GIZ’s Blockchain Governance Lab, I edited and co-authored this white paper on blockchain in Africa. It offers a fresh view on blockchain technology as it is maturing and gives policy recommendations, including the fields of data protection regulation and fiscal policy.
Read More
Transparency, immutability of records and decentralisation – it is these key features of blockchain technologies that resonate with the core values of public interest journalism, which serves to hold the powerful accountable. But how exactly can blockchain be used to support the journalistic ecosystem in practice? Here is my take from the FoME Symposium 2019.
Read More
The race is on: The Libra consortium is developing a global payment infrastructure based on an asset-backed stablecoin, the Libra. It could act as a catalyst towards long-needed interoperable payment architectures.
Read More
Four years of work, 47 interviews with network engineers around the globe and countless talks with friends and with my supervisors: the results of my doctoral research have been published.
Read More
How do networkers manufacture Internet connectivity? I have been pondering about this question for several years now. My research involved interviewing 50 network engineers, peering coordinators and observers from around the globe. At the RIPE Meeting in Dubai I presented some of my reflections.
Read More
For the majority of people in developed countries, the Internet is invisible most of the time. A socket in the wall, a cell site atop a building, a WiFi password written on a restaurant menu – only rarely are we reminded of the fact that Internet connectivity is not just there like a natural resource. It has become ambient. But for some people there is another side to it. This is a text about the networkers who make the Internet work.
Read More