IBM files new patent for a blockchain web browser

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American tech giant IBM has filed a new patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a blockchain-based web browser. According to the patent filing, the browser will maintain a record of browser events in a blockchain using a peer-to-peer network. A user gets to specify the kind of information the browser can record, which is then stored on a blockchain platform permanently.

Some of the information that the browser will record include the URLs of the websites that a user browses, search terms, saved bookmarks, security patches, geolocation, task performance and plugin installation.

The browser will allow the user to specify the type of information it can collect. Different settings including work or home modes will enable the user to control the amount of information shared.

The browser will enhance security and be able to thwart attacks by tracking and identifying malicious browser or code extensions, the patent states:

In one embodiment, the system and method of validating and determining the sensitivity of information may use information security such as that obtained from a vulnerability analysis, a taint analysis, an information flow security analysis, etc. That is, the chaincodes for validating transactions implement business logic(s) for tracking and validating unsafe or malicious browser/code extensions that may allow attackers to run their own code in the victim’s browser with elevated privileges.

IBM further claims that the browser will be able to detect and predict security breaches based on the user browsing history, expertise level and context. It adds, “The detection or prediction of a privacy or security breach may be based on real-time advanced vulnerability scanning and malicious intent detection algorithms (including learning based methods).”

The browser will run on desktops as well as mobile devices.

While IBM’s blockchain browser will be welcome as it furthers the blockchain course, it comes a year after Dr. Craig S. Wright unveiled the Metanet protocol. The protocol enables off-chain applications such as web browsers to interpret on-chain data.

Dr. Wright explained, “What we are going to actually create is a secure alternative to the Internet, built on the blockchain. The Internet becomes a sidechain to the Bitcoin blockchain. The Metanet is a value network—the entire global system of online activity and data connected commercially.”

Metanet not only ensures that data is completely secure, it also gives you power over your data. Those who seek to use your data must compensate you for it unlike the current setup where big tech companies such as Facebook and Google continue to make billions from user data without compensating their users.