From: Mondaq
Article by Anaïs Galpin and Charles S. Morgan | McCarthy Tétrault LLP
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In its openness, blockchain technology is full of new opportunities to transact in different ways. However, in the case of a public blockchain, in order to allow security and certainty, every transaction is recorded on a publicly available ledger and the disclosed transaction information is unalterable. This latter rule is one of the most fundamental in the functioning of blockchain. Indeed, data can only be added to blockchain, rather than removed (as each node contains a replication of the blockchain). If a change is applied to a node, such change would be rejected by the other nodes in the network. It provides a great certainty over the time within the chain of transactions. Altering a node would be like activating a time machine: it is impossible not to change the present if you alter the past, the entire chain of information is thus modified.
Although the above is justifiable from a technological standpoint (an can even facilitate anti-money laundering measures), blockchain’s inalterability can raise issues for individuals who wish to protect their privacy (including as regards the nascent and evolving “right to be forgotten”, which is recognized in some jurisdictions). For example, what is an individual supposed to do if the publicly disclosed information she provided in order to complete a transaction becomes inaccurate or if the publicity of her information one day creates an important risk to her safety? Changes in people’s lives could trigger this individual need for an alteration of the information stored in blockchain ledgers, such as insolvency, criminal records, change of name, change of gender, etc. As such, given the decentralized nature of blockchain, how could a court order a change in blockchain the same way it would order a web page to disappear from Google search results?
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