IDSov and the silent data revolution: Indigenous Peoples and the decentralized building blocks of web3

Year

This article explores the technology underpinning the decentralized data revolution and encourages Indigenous Peoples (IPs) to secure their Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) over the Metaverse and Web3. More specifically, this article will survey blockchain technologies, exploring some disturbing colonial uses and providing an international legal framework that IPs can use to advance their IDSov internationally and domestically. This article will consider the role that cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, decentralized oracles, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) might play in advancing IDSov as it relates to western conceptualizations of Web3 and the Metaverse. The worldwide web's global data structure is undergoing a seismic shift that will significantly impact IPs. As inherent sovereigns, IPs are uniquely positioned to use and regulate these technologies in manners consistent with their cultural values and international indigenous human rights instruments. However, the march toward Web3 also looms menacingly over IPs. As such, we intend to examine IPs' novel risks and opportunities with Web3 and the Metaverse. We conclude by encouraging IPs to become fluent in the minutia of these technologies and to exert their inherent sovereignty over these nascent technologies in international and domestic arenas by building culturally informed systems to address their particularized needs. Future research should look toward the specific hurdles, and successes IPs are experiencing as they apply the technologies and principles discussed here.

Resource Type
Citation

Fernandez, Adam and Dillon Dobson. (May 19, 2023). IDSov and the silent data revolution: Indigenous Peoples and the decentralized building blocks of web3. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics. Sec. Scholarly Communication. Volume 8 - 2023. https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2023.1160566

Related Resources

Thumbnail

Broadband internet and the tools necessary to access it are critical for economic development, education and employment opportunities, and public health and safety for tribal nations and their citizens. Broadband internet is an essential utility, especially during this global pandemic, which is…

Image
The Strategic Power of Data: A Key Aspect of Sovereignty

The lack of good data about U.S. American Indian and Alaska Native populations hinders tribes’ development activities, but it also highlights a space for sovereign action. In coming years, tribes will no doubt continue to advocate for better national data and at the same time increasingly implement…

Image
Social and Economic Change on American Indian Reservations: A Databook of the US Censuses and the American Community Survey 1990 – 2010

The fortunes of Indians on reservations continue to lag those of other racial and ethnic groups tracked by the census in the United States. The per capita income of Indians on reservations, for example, has been less than half the US average, consistently falling far below that of Hispanics,…