sparkzilla

I just follow journalists on Twitter.

Edinburgh used to be known as 'Auld Reekie' i.e. 'Old Smokey'.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKZyy9FZRWY

Thanks. Good luck with your project!

The tags don't seem to work.

>If an article says Trump gave a speech, how do you verify with machine learning, using a blockchain, that Trump literally gave a speech?

To do fact checking you first need to know what has been reported. We verify that a source reported that Trump was involved in a news event where he gave a speech, and convert that to data (For example: Trump, gives speech, text of what he said, location etc, with links to the sources). Anyone can then use that data combined with their own algorithms or external data to evaluate the quality of the data -- primarily by evaluating the sources -- to create quality scores for that news event.

> don’t really understand your business. It’s a business, but also dencentralized.

We are setting up a foundation to oversee the blockchain, but it really only exists to distribute the initial funds and to provide initial guidance, until on-chain governance can be set up. Companies and individuals run the apps that use the data on the blockchain.

>Are you trying to verify if news is fake or not?

See above. You can use the data for lots of things. Detecting fake news is just one application.

>Why do you need a blockchain or machine learning for this?

There is no way to ensure that the data is verified independently across the network, and stored in a censorship and tamper-resistant way without a blockchain.

>Do you have your own coin?

The coin (NewsBlocks Tokens) will be used by apps to pay for the data. The payments are then sent to the people who added the data, without any need for middlemen or news agencies, using Smart Contracts.

A blog is just one kind of news application, that generally uses articles (not data) for its content. However, we propose that once news is converted to data it can be used for many different kind of applications: Trusted news feeds (filter and sort the data); automatically created articles (combine the data); fact checking systems (compare the data); fake news detectors (evaluate the sources of the data); and much more. For this to work the data must be independently verified as accurate (matching the source) and available for access at all times, without fear censorship. Put all that together and there is only one technology that can deal with it.

The amount of verification required depends on the data. Simple data, such as sports results -- coming from high-quality sources doesn't require much verification, and can be automated. More complex data requires human verification, but that will gradually be replaced by distributed machine learning.

Good point. We are setting up a foundation to initially run the project, but even the foundation will be deprecated as we go forward. In fact its primary role will be to enable further decentralisation i.e. to make sure that no single party can monopolize the system through various consensus methods.

In its most basic form, we verify that data extracted from news articles matches what has been reported. So, when we extract the data "Trump, Speech, Alabama, Immigration" from an article, then it has to match the reporting in that original source, which may have included a sentence like, "Trump gives a speech in Alabama about immigration".

To avoid the verification process being gamed we split up the data and send pieces to random people across the across the network. So, someone may be asked "Is this article about Trump?" and the next person may be asked "Which state is this sentence about?". They may not even see the whole original article.

My company aims to convert all the world's news into data. Please tell me another technology that will allow us to build a decentralised, failure-tolerant, censorship- and tamper-resistant archive of that data, that allows anyone to add data, and have it verified without a central authority, and that anyone can use to create news applications.

My 'affiliation' with NewsBlocks (I'm the founder and CEO actually) has zero to do with this topic. Are you suggesting that you would add another downvote simply because it is an ICO?

Unless they're investigating Craigslist, perhaps?

Good point.

>your startup is taking advantage of naive investors that want to invest in X meets blockchain.

False. Please tell me another technology that will allow us to build a decentralised, failure-tolerant, censorship- and tamper-resistant archive of all the world's news, that has been converted into data and independently verified, and that anyone can use to create news applications.

To avoid any accusation of threadjacking, if you'd like to discuss NewsBlocks further, please do so on the 'Show HN' page page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17947364

No, my comment is based primarily on the narrow scope of the publication, which to my mind, as a lifelong publisher of online and offline media, seems excessive. If they were using an ICO to raise the same amount of money for the same project scope I'd also think that excessive.

As for my own project, we have a much wider goal (to convert all the world's news -- past and present -- into data that can be used as a platform for applications) that obviously requires far more investment than a niche content site.

Value can also be gathered through subscriptions.

ProPublica has a much, much wider brief, which should translate into why it receives $16 million in annual contributions. OTOH, I can't see how a site that covers a technology niche can support that level of ongoing contributions.

And during that time there's no revenue? I'm not sure why I'm being downvoted: as a publisher of multiple online and offline projects it seems an extravagant amount for a publication that has a very narrow scope.

"They should have sent a poet"

Who reads an actual newspaper these days?

Musk tweeted a Japanese flag shortly after, so unless they're delivering sushi to the moon, it's someone Japanese.

Why is this even being profiled? It's not particularly innovative, it hasn't flown, there's no price, and the tech is untested.

And yet people still download Torrents.

'Normal' people already use distributed content: Google and Facebook's content is held in data servers all across the planet. The next stage is to distribute the governance of that content, which similarly, most users won't be aware of.

A bit challenging to sue a project when it has no owners and no jurisdiction.

PS: Jonathan Strange: Great books and even better TV.

I just commented above. One solution to this kind of legislative overreach is decentralized apps that have no official jurisdiction.

While I agree that regulation favours big companies, potential competitors will base themselves offshore, or create distributed apps that have no jurisdiction.

Totally agree. After driving an automatic for years in the US, I came back to the UK and had to hire a manual for a week. Even though I learned in a manual it was a horrible experience. Hill starts are a nightmare, and you're driving with all your arms and feet, like an octopus. After that, my wife, who had learned to drive in the US and had to do the UK test, opted just to take the automatic test, passing in just a few lessons.