Elixxir Blockchain Launches A BetaNet Version Of The Privacy Protecting Platform To Protect Metadata

Metadata is a key topic for digital platform users, especially after the recent letter released by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook. The letter caused different reactions from different quarters across various industries with some supporting the moves taken to ensure security while others like Elixxir CEO and Founder, David Chaum believes more can be done on securing digital data. In a piece published on the Elixxir blog, “Why Mark Zuckerberg wants no privacy, why he wrote his letter, and why it won’t help him” David promised the launch of a privacy protecting platform with technologies such as end-to-end encrypted, metadata-protected messaging, anonymous digital currency, and vote-selling-proof online voting, among others.

The Elixxir BetaNet Platform Is Here

David announced the launch of the Elixxir platform on the BetaNet with nodes spread across six continents. The Elixxir platform will not only offer end to end encryption for their users but also will obscure metadata from the transaction. This means that the identity of the sender and the receiver will be obscured as well as when and where the message was sent from.

In the letter by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO focuses on installing end to end encryption of private messages between a user on Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook. However, the end to end encryption does not mean privacy as most of the people are led to understand. All it means is that the contents of the messages are obscured but the other details of the transaction remain available to Facebook such as the sender’s and receiver’s identity.

The end to end encryption does not secure the privacy of your behavioral details which offers a chance for the government and corporations to continue spying you. Hence the need for Elixxir, a blockchain created to protect the privacy of your messages and the metadata too. The Elixxir nodes are built on a totally decentralized platform to provide the users with a completely private and secure platform for the metadata.

The decentralized mix technology by Elixxir delivers unprecedented speed by using precomputation to create a mix network framework in advance. Once the precomputation is complete, the nodes then process a ton of messages by breaking the links between the sender & recipient and the users to their blockchain history ensuring the metadata is obscured.

The Elixxir Blockchain Nodes

The Elixxir node selection process is currency on with applications accepted on the Elixxir website by 19th April 2019. The node selection process started back in January with hundreds of applications already submitted. The users who will run the Elixxir BetaNet nodes will be eligible for running two nodes once the Elixxir Main net launches later in the year.