Abstract

Next to artificial intelligence and big data, blockchains have emerged as one of the most oft-cited technologies associated with the digital economy. Leading technology companies have recently contributed to making the technology used more widely by developing integrated blockchain offerings. The emergence of such services yet strikingly clashes with the original stated goal of the technology to remove any form of central political authority, such as the one companies behind these new services can represent. How should we then understand the embrace of blockchains by companies that this technology was notably supposed to displace? Using the concept of infrastructure from Science and Technology Studies, we argue that these companies are not merely adopting the technology but actively promoting a new assemblage of socio-technical devices to reassert their authority over how information is exchanged online. Based on a comparative analysis of the technical documentation of Ethereum and Amazon Web Services (AWS) blockchain services, we highlight how actors contributing to building digital infrastructures regulate their users' behavior by affording them different capacities and constraints. We moreover show how by pursuing its commercial interest, AWS supported a corporate form of governance historically promoted by the United States to oversee the digital economy.

摘要

除了人工智能和大数据之外，区块链已成为与数字经济相关的最常被引用的技术之一。领先的技术公司最近通过开发集成的区块链产品为更广泛地使用该技术做出了贡献。此类服务的出现与该技术最初提出的消除任何形式的中央政治权威的目标明显冲突，例如这些新服务背后的公司可以代表。那么，我们应该如何理解公司对区块链的拥抱，而这种技术本应被显着取代？使用科学技术研究中的基础设施概念，我们认为，这些公司不仅在采用该技术，而且还在积极推广新的社会技术设备组合，以重申他们对在线信息交换方式的权威。基于对以太坊和亚马逊网络服务 (AWS) 区块链服务的技术文档的比较分析，我们强调了参与构建数字基础设施的行为者如何通过为用户提供不同的能力和约束来规范其用户的行为。此外，我们还展示了 AWS 如何通过追求其商业利益，支持美国历史上提倡的一种公司治理形式来监督数字经济。我们强调了为构建数字基础设施做出贡献的行为者如何通过为用户提供不同的能力和约束来规范其用户的行为。此外，我们还展示了 AWS 如何通过追求其商业利益，支持美国历史上提倡的一种公司治理形式来监督数字经济。我们强调了为构建数字基础设施做出贡献的行为者如何通过为用户提供不同的能力和约束来规范其用户的行为。此外，我们还展示了 AWS 如何通过追求其商业利益，支持美国历史上提倡的一种公司治理形式来监督数字经济。