This thesis aims to explore the compliance of blockchain technology and the GDPR. The GDPR was implemented for the EU member states in May 2018 with the purpose of harmonizing data protection regulation. However, the regulation is based on the notion that data is stored and processed in a centralized system. This causes an issue when it comes to distributed networks, and in particular with the distributed ledger technology (DLT), the underlying technology of blockchain. For this thesis, a literature review has been conducted to investigate the problems of GDPR compliance for blockchain projects, and what technical solutions exist to make a blockchain solution more GDPR compliant. In addition, interviews have been conducted to investigate the technical and legal perspectives on the current and future situations of regulation and technology. Compatibility problems mainly concern the immutability and transparency of a blockchain and examples of technical solutions that handle those problems can be found in the literature. Nevertheless, none of the discussed solutions are yet to guarantee full GDPR compliance. The technical and legal perspectives share ideas of the main compliance issues. However, differences such as interpretation of technical details can be identified, indicating problems to arise when regulating blockchains in the future. Further interdisciplinary work on guidelines for the GDPR is necessary for blockchain projects to be successful in complying with the regulation as well as to strengthen the technology neutrality of the GDPR.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-397163 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Melin, Karin |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Datorteknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | UPTEC STS, 1650-8319 ; 19046 |
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