IBM has applied for a patent for a blockchain-based web browser. The company filed the request on 6th of August.
In a filing dated 6th August 2019, IBM has applied to the United States Patent and trademark office. The patent application described the workings of a web browser that was based on a peer to peer network or blockchain.
What does it do?
The browser is made to connect to a blockchain once installed on a device. It will then send some specific information to the network. That information will get written to the blockchain as a block. The information is stored securely because it cannot be accessed illegally from that blockchain.
All your information is stored in a secure way on the blockchain network. Only you can access it. It will store your browsing preferences, history, bookmarks and other browser related activities on the blockchain. It cannot be read and tampered with. It cannot be sold to a third party to serve you ads. It will remain in your control and be accessible after a reinstall.
IBM browser vs Chome
What’s the difference between, for instance, the IBM and the chrome browsers? Chrome is a google product. It stored all your information in google servers. That information is anonymized (according to google) and sold to advertisers. The information is locked in with your google account and cannot be accessed with first logging into the google network.
While most people couldn’t care about the fact that Google takes all their information, the matter of privacy remains. IBM’s blockchain browser will make sure that your information remains with you. You can use your information for whatever purpose you please. The network is based on peer to peer blockchain. That means that the entire is decentralized by design. This is great news that IBM patents a blockchain-based browser.
Hacker Resistant
In a recent article, we had mentioned a virus that targeted browser information of crypto users. The IBM blockchain-based browser may be able to mitigate the damage done to the user.
Browser Token
It wouldn’t be fun if IBM didn’t include a token into their blockchain. IBM said that tokens will be used to verify a users’ browsers activity. This will be the necessary preliminary check before being added to the block.
Opera Browser
Opera has already released a product to the market that is similar. It integrates with ERC-20 tokens and smart contracts. In Operas’ words, it is a web browser for the Web 3.0. Now, IBM to patent blockchain-based browser.
From the Application Document-
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a computer-implemented method records and maintains a record of browser events in a blockchain using a peer-to-peer network. One or more processors detect one or more user’s browser events for a browser on a computer. One or more processors then transmit transactions associated with the one or more user’s browser events from the computer to a peer-to-peer network of devices that create a blockchain, which includes one or more blocks that describe the one or more user’s browser events, such that the blockchain ledgers and maintains a record of historical user’s browser events that occur at the computer.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a computer-implemented method tracks and maintains a record of disparate browser events. One or more processors detect a browser event for a browser on a computer. One or more processors transmit transactions associated with the disparate browser events from the computer to a trans-vendor service, which operates across disparate browsers, devices, and operating systems, such that the trans-vendor service generates a blockchain ledger that includes one or more blocks that comprise the transactions associated with one or more user browser events from the computer and blocks that describe the one or more user browser events from the disparate browsers, devices, and operating systems.
