creativechain interview
What is Creativechain?
Creativechain uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to challenge the centralized power of traditional systems of copyright management entities. This provides a public and transparent alternative of intellectual property registration and an innovative ecosystem in the field of peer-to-peer content distribution. This way, it frees creative people from the centralized intermediation power of the traditional digital content industries.
What problems is Creativechain solving?
Registration of intellectual property
Problem: Any digital content is very easy to copy and distribute. This feature often makes it very difficult to prove the authenticity, authorship or distribution license of any original creation. Currently even if a certain work is announced, tagged or linked with a Creative Commons license does not mean that it is sealed under a power of attorney. In a dispute of rights this can be an inconvenience to the author when it comes to demonstrating his authorship.
Solution: Creativechain uses blockchain technology and its power of attorney to solve this problem by creating an incorruptible and inalterable time stamp that allows to certify the authorship and license of use or distribution of any work or digital creation. In this way the platform becomes a kind of book of public records that can be consulted and verified by anyone at all times. Texts, images, videos, songs ... can be protected allowing the original creator to be recognized in the event of a conflict of license infringement by a third party.
Notary registration of licenses
Problem: Since the creation of Creative Commons licenses in 2002 to date, the use of these licenses in works has grown to more than 1100 million in 2015. This increase makes many creators receive situations of non-compliance of their license by third parties or companies. Almost always these conflicts end up being forgotten by the independent author. The most common causes that push the author to not complain usually have to do with the fact of not being able to demonstrate the authorship of their work, the legal ignorance or the lack of money to pay the legal costs that would entail claiming their rights.
Solution: Creativechain offers a very simple and economical solution to empower the authors when claiming their rights. On the one hand the platform issues a digital certificate of authenticity that can be sent to the company that is infringing the rights.
At the same time, the platform incorporates an open channel of direct legal advice with specialized copyright lawyers who will be able to guide and manage online the procedures to claim their rights.
The nature of the copyright culture creates a gap in cultural participation.
At Creativechain we understand that all people have the right to participate in cultural life and enjoy its benefits. That is why we encourage, protect and give priority to the use of free licenses as a way of helping to reduce the cultural participation gap and facilitate the construction of a free culture system necessary for the exercise of the right of access to the culture for all societies.
Smart contracts
Problem: Traditional methods of transferring copyright are often processes that generate an economic and temporary cost for all parties involved.
Solution: Creativechain registers content with a system that is capable of issuing "smart contracts" to make work assignment agreements. A smart contract acts as an informatic program that facilitates, secures, enforces and executes agreements between individuals and organizations. These contracts are signed cryptographically between the parties and are intended to provide greater security than traditional contract law and reduce transaction costs along the process of contracting. Creativechain's smart contracts mean a huge saving of time and money for artists, producers, institutions, organizations or galleries working in the culture sector.
Contracts can be public or encrypted and guarantee that the two parties accept the conditions. With the smart contracts of Creativechain any person can make sure that the purchaser of the assignment of rights has enough money to be unlocked at the time of the signing and registration.
Transparency and traceability of consumption data.
Problem: Any content distribution companies like Google, Youtube or Amazon privatize statistics and consumption data. This causes technological giants to have a market monopoly, creating consumer trends and manipulating any sale on their platforms.
Society is increasingly aware of this power and is unwilling to cede its information to large multinationals that offer free services to convert user information into a privatized and marketable value. In most cases this information is sold to third parties to multiply their value, as happens in the advertising use. In this sense we must remember the famous axiom that says; "When something is free, the product is you."
Solution: In Creativechain, all f interaction and consumption data are public, always respecting author or consumer’s choice of identity and anonymity. Only users can decide to reveal their identity to who they want and even publish their information in an encrypted way. In this way, any user can use the network’s statistics to improve their content offer on equal terms with other users.
In Creativechain, the content owners are the authors, and they will always be able to prove it with the records that have been registered in the blockchain.
Distribution of TFS files in network Torrent
Problem: Currently digital content distribution companies use private servers where all content is centralized. In this way the content that we upload remains opaque in the hands of intermediaries and their private interests, being able to be manipulated by the lack of transparency. Usually they censure or eliminate contents without notice. In most cases, these intermediaries acquire the right to include in both their terms and conditions of use the ownership of the digital archive and the right to exploit it.
Solution: The complete decentralization of all the metadata in a blockchain is the solution to fight against the accumulation of power that some content distribution companies have.
Tarsius File System (TFS) has been developed to provide a solution to the unlimited storage and temporary perpetuity. TFS allows file storage while guarantees the availability of data with 10 copies. The number of copies can be configured by the blockchain system consensus. TFS encrypts the documents and uses the Torrent network as a parasite that ensures the stable permanence of all registered files.
Although it is always recommended to the user to have the original file as a proof, in case of legal dispute the TFS system works as a backup to rescue the original file while it acts as a method of viewing content from the decentralized platform Creativechain.
All metadata records that link to the files are stored in the block chain. This way no one can modify a single record as it would not match the information shared by the other nodes and would not be validated. Thanks to this process, we are able to offer a distributed and public registry system whose consensus resides in the code itself and any modification of the initial source code should be approved by more than 51% of the nodes.
Creativecoin: the crypto currency of Creative communities.
Problem: In many countries, artists and creators are separated from any funding strategy because of the difficulty of accessing a bank account. At the same time, banks act as intermediaries by imposing fees on transactions that end up making very expensive the final cost of production of any work or creation.
Solution: Creativechain aims to free cultural production from the intermediation of traditional banks and offer new and more inclusive financing services. That is why the platform offers the service of management of collections, payments or donations with Creativecoin, the first cryptocurrency created and designed to meet the needs of all creative communities that produce and distribute digital content.
There are many benefits attributed to the use of virtual currencies. A global currency that does not belong to any state or government and can be used around the world without geographical or political barriers. Being foreign to the fiduciary system can not create debt with it and its value does not depend on the intervention of any central bank.
Creativecoin uses up to 8 decimals divisible. This fact facilitates the micropayments to all type of contents. The transactions are made in real time and their execution is completed in a few minutes. The currency is designed to be impossible to falsify, nor can a double expense be made without the network detecting it. The cryptocurrency is anonymous and no one is obliged to reveal its identity. This makes of Creativecoin a perfect currency to register contents anonymously.
All transactions and registrations are transparent and are recorded in an open account book. The use of Creativecoin entails lower costs per transaction than any traditional credit card system or payment gateways such as Paypal. Creativecoin is a peer-to-peer currency and works like cash, with the advantage that it occupies a tiny space so you can save a huge amount on a small file or a USB stick.
This way, Creativechain goes one step beyond copyleft by applying "copyfarleft". This means that the platform not only bets on the defense, protection and distribution of copyleft content, but also gives "fintech" solutions for the economic emancipation of People who produce it.
Creativecoin blockchain has three basic functions: registering content metadata, issuing smart contracts and using a cryptocurrency.
Unlike other currencies, Creativecoin contemplates a basic value that is to register contents.
The fee is 0.001 CREA that is distributed in full to the nodes that have confirmed the transactions.
We have talked about other content destribution platforms on the magazine. What does Creativechain offer that other blockchain-based platforms do not?
The main feature is the philosophical approach of a platform based on a free software community that supports the distribution of culture under copyleft and Creative Commons licenses. Creativechain is a bet for the public benefit of free culture and common creation as a collaborative method of growing and guaranteeing the right to culture. We want to build the largest distributed book of digital records ever to date. Also, we want the platform to become a communication tool and a reference in terms of quality and quantity of content and freedom of expression in the network.
In addition, Creativechain has many original features that provide new distribution methodologies and new technical solutions in the blockchain universe:
Creative Chains
We understand "creative chains" as the ability of art and culture to interweave any kind of intellectual creation. When a creator decides to use a copyleft licensed image to complete a new artwork generates an invisible link that links these two works forever.
Thanks to blockchain technology we can now record, trace and visualize in a decentralized public archive all the connections that are generated between any creation.
This system facilitates the chaining of payments to derivative works, giving an innovative solution to the recognition and economic reward of the creative chains.
This characteristic is the one that gives name to the platform and its final objective is to be able to create a map of connections that help us to understand how the cultural transmission is articulated and the creative processes that shape it over time.
Smart contracts ( Smart actions )
The Creativechain platform allows you to incorporate any type of license into a smart contract to seal assignment agreements or to sell and distribute the work in the channels or communities of the platform. Contracts based on methods of distribution that favor collective creation:
Smarts C Commons: Contracts relating to the parties with a Creative Commons license or copyleft
Royalty Free Stock Photography: Contracts based on agreements of purchase and sale of free licenses for unlimited use in any project and forever.
Equity Crowd: Agreements for the distribution of dividends as participation for project investors. In this way the benefits of distribution of the work are distributed automatically among all the microinverters.
Sponsor License: License to sponsor contents of users who have activated this function in their project.
Creative Chain License: License based on a Creative Commons license to string derivative works whose profits are distributed in a chained way with a Percentage X to all mentioned works.
The creator of "smart contracts" that incorporates the platform allows you to design contracts tailored to fit the needs of each cultural sector.
The purchase of works directly supports the creator of the work and its creative chain.
You can see the operation of the Smart Actions from the proof-of-concept page that we are updating at this address: creativechain.net
Social Network
Creativechain works like any social network where content is displayed or distributed. You can create distribution channels and specific communities where interact with content from other authors, using, rating and commenting on their creations. The system incorporates an encrypted chat so that you can contact privately with the artists and authors of the content.
All interactions are registered in the blockchain. So, this part of the platform is also decentralized
Creation of Dapps
Creativechain is an open source ecosystem that allows other content platforms to create their own decentralized applications that use the Creativecoin blockchain to store and index content. These platforms can be specialized in Art, photography, videos, ebooks, software, music, multimedia banks ... any distribution system is possible.
Display standard
From Pythagoras (569 BC) who chose as a logo for his school the pentagonal star, a geometric figure where all parts are related to each other following the proportion of the golden section, there are many cases of artists who have used this proportion in their works of art. Phidias (500 BC) in the designs of the Parthenon or Leonardo da Vinci (1452 AD) in some of his paintings more known as the Gioconda or Vitruvian man are just some of the best known examples.
In visual aesthetics the reason for using this ratio is related to the attempt to achieve a pleasant and symmetrical perception of the forms and relationships that are generated between them.
Visual CREA is the visual standardization system of JSON data structures, produced by CREA's blockchain. This system is based on standard display rules that use the golden ratio to display data, documents or files on any digital display device.
Fair Indexing of Data
Creativechain's philosophy is to develop a content search system in blockchain as fair as possible for all users. For this, each day (range that can be reviewed by the consensus) all the nodes emit the data of interaction statistics and consumption of the platform.
- Number of requests to each type of content.
- Number of requests to each content.
- Number of searches per text string.
- Number of signatures received by type of signature.
-Traffic and frequency
These 5 indicators give millions of possibilities for each developer to take advantage of information as he pleases and generates the statistics that best suit him to determine trends in the distribution market.
These indicators allow you to create more realistic consumption statistics, since there is no possibility of manipulation by the platform.
In this way and unlike the other centralized platforms like Google or Amazon in Creativechain all the people have the same power of access to the information of the network without generating positions of privileges between users and distributors.
3D Data Navigation
It is the multidimensional visualization system that uses data structures as objetus or arrais with infinite multidimensional positions and possibilities. The data navigation structure in CREA's blockchain consists of 3 Dimensions. Each block of information can scroll through all dimensions depending on the configuration that the user sets according to their search criteria.
Example: The top-down navigation will correspond to the works of the author, left-right works related by keywords and inside-outside correspond to navigation in time by date of registration in the blockchain. This system allows to simply navigate in the public archive by applying the time dimension and thus check the order of registration and sealing over time.
Example:
D = Search Hash
P = Point in space
Z = Time
Rdw = Related with hash with who publish
Rdp = Related with the publish
p[d] [z] [rdp] [rdw]
Creativechain allows content creators to register and license their material and protect it from being unfairly used by companies or lawful individuals. Does creativechain offer any protection against piracy from anonymous actors?
Creativechain is not a platform that aims to provide a magic solution to solve the problem of "piracy" suffered by major Hollywood producers. The problem of non-compliance with copyright laws is as complex as culture itself. In order to find a fair and respectful model in relation to the exploitation of intellectual property, a political model had to be found in relation to the ownership of culture so that it was transversal to all citizens. At the moment there is no machine or software that can attempt to solve a philosophical conflict of this magnitude.
Creativechain is a platform that gives greater legal security to creators thanks to their methods of registration in the blockchain. In this way, you manage to protect the authorship and have a tool that allows you to claim your rights in the event that the original contents are published on other platforms in breach of copyright. At the same time, Creativechain is also a content distribution platform where you could upload content anonymously infringing the copyright. To do this, some conflict detection and mediation solutions are offered: data recognition and document hashing to verify that it is original content for Creativechain's network. All open source image and audio recognition systems available to detect duplicate files will be added to the platform.
Another tool that will incorporate the platform is the power of distributed social network. The platform integrates an international mediation channel formed by lawyers specialized in copyright. We have the collaboration of the social network SoldierLawyers in charge of connecting your social network with the platform. These specialized profiles will earn CREA as commission for conflict brokerage or personalized advice. In this way, users are protected by giving him power to claim his rights in case of conflict.
The idea of "creative chains" could perhaps be described as a representation of piece of content's evolution. Is this idea new or did it exist before?
It is an idea that has always existed in our society and possibly this is one of the main characteristics that sets us apart from other living beings. Since we have conscience as a society we have dedicated ourselves to the transmission of culture. From mouth to ear, from generation to generation, through the music of writing and from any known artistic practice. Since the Internet has existed this phenomenon has multiplied becoming something intrinsic to the network. The creative chain is now a constant in any discipline from multimedia art through journalism to the creation of any kind of software. Ted Nelson, who was one of the creators of what we now know as the Internet, already imagined in 1957 the idea of being able to connect all the texts produced with a chain of links that would be useful to recognize the authors and when their works had been cited by other authors. This project, which Ted Nelson called Project Xanadu, was an idea too advanced to the technology of his time.
Consistently, we can not say that the idea of creative chains is entirely ours. We have given a name to the phenomenon "Creative Chains" and we have designed a solution technology able to realize a complete tracing of the digital creation. Today this is possible thanks to the elegant idea of S. Nakamoto to solve the problem of trust that existed in the operation of any distributed network.
How did the idea for the Creativechain platform come along?
We are people with knowledge in art and new technologies, we have been researching since long time ago on network theory and collective creation models. Five years ago, we started learning with Bitcoin's existence and its solution to solve the problem of trust in distributed networks. Then we thought, if that system would adapt to any kind of relationship between people and things, we could eliminate from the equation many of the intermediaries that decide, control and make our lives more expensive. That’s was the moment when we began to develop the idea of applying this technology to the digital content distribution sector.
The ICO is currently ongoing. What will the gathered funds be used for?
At Creativechain we use the ICO as a method to publicize the project and to make more people get involved. Unlike the rest of ICOs, Creativechain is already releasing code and tools to test the platform in the testnet phase before the ICO is finished. Multiplatform Wallets, Android App, Block Explorer, Pool… Users can even see and test the proof of concept of what will be the content explorer and Creativechain smart actions. This way, anyone can verify that the project is real and unstoppable and once the ICO is finished, the mainnet will start with a platform that is already working publicly without having to wait months and months to make sure that the project exists.
What comes after the ICO?
Start of the genesis block, distribution of CREAS to crowdfunders and release of version 1.0 of the platform for LINUX / MAC / WIN / IOS / ANDROID.