Blockchain based resource governance for decentralized web environments

Abstract

Decentralization initiatives such as Solid, Digi.me, and ActivityPub aim to give data owners more control over their data and to level the playing field by enabling small companies and individuals to gain access to data, thus stimulating innovation. However, these initiatives typically use access control mechanisms that cannot verify compliance with usage conditions after access has been granted to others. In this paper, we extend the state of the art by proposing a resource governance conceptual framework, entitled ReGov, that facilitates usage control in decentralized web environments. We subsequently demonstrate how our framework can be instantiated by combining blockchain and trusted execution environments. Through blockchain technologies, we record policies expressing the usage conditions associated with resources and monitor their compliance. Our instantiation employs trusted execution environments to enforce said policies, inside data consumers’ devices. We evaluate the framework instantiation through a detailed analysis of requirments derived from a data market motivating scenario, as well as an assessment of the security, privacy, and affordability aspects of our proposal.

Blockchain governance and trust: A multi-sector thematic systematic review and exploration of future research directions

“… Theme Select References Major Findings Blockchain Technology Governance [ 8 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ] Governance of blockchain is conducted in three layers - off-chain community, off-chain development, and on chain protocols. Data Governance, Surveillance, and IT [ 63 , 64 , 16 , 65 , 66 , 67 ] •Data governance using BCT ensures data privacy by providing a single shared ledger to service providers. Business and Corporate Governance [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , [74] , [75] , [76] , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ] ...…”

“…It cannot be generalised. Li et al [ 155 ], and Basile et al [ 64 ] assert that blockchain-based governance systems will ensure data privacy and preserve the data rights of consumers. They recommend data be stored in a separate server and that data requests should be processed in a separate server.…”