Includes index.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inadequacies of the world's collective approach to data. The inability, and sometimes unwillingness, to share and use data to combat COVID-19 or to protect against predatory uses of data has negatively impacted individuals, private enterprise, research institutions and governments around the globe. A lack of trust combined with asymmetric economic interests are slowing progress -- especially in the cross-border context. The explosion of ransomware and software supply chain attack in 2021 exposed the vulnerability of the centralized data storage within enterprises, big and small. The current crisis illustrates that without proper technology, protocols and governance, society risks creating either a world in which access to data is overly restricted and impedes human progress and innovation, or one in which data-sharing solutions are created without properly respecting the rights of the individual parties involved, including businesses. A balanced combination of hard science and real-world case studies, The Blockchain Internet is a comprehensive and accessible guide to both the present and the future of blockchain technology and how it empowers the future internet, providing a timely, in-depth analysis of this rapid-developing blockchain world for wide audiences."-- Provided by publisher.