Building a Blockchain Application that Complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation

Abstract

Blockchain technology provides an innovative means of fostering collaboration, especially in cross-organizational workflows. Blockchain solutions allow the organizations involved in the workflow to maintain control over their respective activities but, at the same time, enable them to establish a "shared and persistent truth" on the state of the workflow at any given time. This truth can act as a point of reference if conflicts need to be resolved at a later point. By extension, this allows the organizations to use updates on the blockchain as reliable 1 Carsten Sørensen is the accepting senior editor for this article. 2 We developed this article as part of an applied research project with Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The authors would like to thank everyone involved for their support. We would also like to express our gratitude to Carsten Sørensen, Mary Lacity, Rajiv Sabherwal, and three anonymous reviewers for their guidance and comments, which considerably improved this article.

The Energy Consumption of Blockchain Technology: Beyond Myth

“…However, we also illustrated that due to consensus and inherent redundancy, blockchainbased solutions in general still require more energy than non-blockchain, centralized architectures. However, in enterprise applications, blockchains are typically only one part of a hybrid solution in which most processes are operated via conventional IT, and little information which is relevant to the remaining participants on the blockchain is processed on-chain (Rieger et al 2019). Reducing the workflows operated on-chain to a minimum, therefore, also mitigates concerns about the energy consumption.…”

“…These are referred to as permissioned blockchains. They are of particular interest to many industries and, also, to the public sector: participants usually build a consortium, and there is a registration process meaning that all of the participants in consensus are known (Fridgen et al 2018b;Rieger et al 2019). Therefore, it is not necessary to tie voting weight to a scarce resource here, and one can reach consensus using some kind of election in which everyone has a single vote.…”

The uncertain promise of blockchain for government

“…Since 2014, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014 [31]) has been the basis for promoting the transition towards mature digital governments. The Recommendation provides 12 strategic priorities for governments to move from e-government 42 to digital government 43 . The actions it sets out advocate for a cultural change within the public sector, drawing upon the strategic use 42 According to the Recommendation, E-Government refers to the use by the governments of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and particularly the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government (OECD, 2014 [31]).…”

“…The Recommendation provides 12 strategic priorities for governments to move from e-government 42 to digital government 43 . The actions it sets out advocate for a cultural change within the public sector, drawing upon the strategic use 42 According to the Recommendation, E-Government refers to the use by the governments of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and particularly the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government (OECD, 2014 [31]). 43 According to the Recommendation, Digital Government refers to the use of digital technologies, as an integrated part of governments' modernisation strategies, to create public value.…”

Ein Blick auf aktuelle Entwicklungen bei Blockchains und deren Auswirkungen auf den Energieverbrauch

“…Ähnlich verhält es sich bei einer Vielzahl von Implementierungen blockchain-basierter Plattformen für organisationsübergreifende Prozesse in Wirtschaft und öffentlichem Sektor. In Deutschland sind hier etwa Projekte von Automobilherstellern im Supply-Chain-Bereich [7] oder dem Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge [8] zu nennen. Da das Thema Nachhaltigkeit in Politik und Wirtschaft zu Recht sehr präsent ist [9], wird im Zusammenhang mit blockchainbezogenen Projekten aus den oben beschriebenen Gründen sehr häufig die Frage nach dem Stromverbrauch und der Nachhaltigkeit von Blockchain-Technologie generell gestellt.…”