Hoang Lai

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Degree Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS)

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Thomas Austin

Second Advisor

Chris Pollett

Third Advisor

Katerina Potika

Keywords

Blockchain, Ethereum, Decentralized Application, Decentralized Database, News Site App

Abstract

Misleading information, false claims, and fabricated news articles not only misguide readers but also undermine the trustworthiness of the news platforms themselves. The blockchain provides decentralized, immutable data storage and offers a promising solution to prevent censorship on news websites. Compared to traditional news websites, a decentralized application (dApp) offers benefits such as greater stability and resistance to information manipulation. A decentralized web app is harder to attack than centralized servers since the database is stored across a blockchain network. Moreover, blockchain prevents censorship by letting readers check data across all blocks in the Blockchain, which is good for a trustworthy news service. However, the goal of censorship-resistance conflicts with the typical news site requirements to provide a way to update and hide contents. This project aims to provide a solution by keeping all versions of the information from related authors. The project presents a news site that resists censorship. It still allows authors to update previous news stories and to hide inappropriate comments from others, but still retains previous versions of the information on the blockchain, thus ensuring that the content can never be purged from the internet. In addition, I discuss the cost of this website running on Ethereum, and solutions to optimize my design, such as using the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) to reduce the cost.

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Available for download on Thursday, May 22, 2025

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