International remote product team aiming to accelerate the world towards a more sustainable future

Footprint

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Hot takes on artificial intelligence are everywhere: Depending on where you look, generative AI will either kill us, take our jobs, liberate us from drudgery, or spur tremendous innovation. (Either way, calls for are here.) At The Markup we like to take a measured approach that often, well, includes measuring actual consequences. regulation So I’m thrilled to share this Q&A with associate professor of computer science at University of California, Riverside, , who together with his team—Riverside Ph.D. candidates and , and , an associate professor of computer science at University of Texas at Arlington—recently published a paper quantifying the . Shaolei Ren Pengfei Li Jianyi Yang Mohammad A. Islam secret water footprint of AI While the carbon footprint of emerging technologies has gotten some attention, to truly build toward sustainability, water has to be part of the equation too. Also, hello! I’m Nabiha Syed, the CEO of The Markup, and I happen to be a person who believes technological advancement can coexist with a healthy planet—if we make that a priority. Keep reading to learn how much water a single ChatGPT conversation might “drink” and tangible steps we can take to reduce the water footprint of AI. (This Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.) Syed: With very good reason, we’re starting to see more scrutiny of the carbon footprint of various technologies, including AI models like GPT‑3 and GPT‑4 as well as . But your research focuses on something receiving less attention: the secret water footprint of AI technology. Tell us about your findings. bitcoin mining Water footprint has been staying under the radar for various reasons, including the big misperception that freshwater is an “infinite” resource and the relatively lower price tag of water. Many AI model developers are not even aware of their water footprint. But this doesn’t mean water footprint is not important, especially in drought regions like California. Ren: Together with my students and my collaborator at UT Arlington, I did some research on AI’s water footprint using state-of-the-art estimation methodology. We find that large-scale AI models are indeed big water consumers. For example, training GPT‑3 in Microsoft’s state-of-the-art U.S. data centers can directly consume 700,000 liters of clean freshwater (enough to produce 370 BMW cars or 320 Tesla electric vehicles), and the water consumption would have been tripled if training were done in Microsoft’s data centers in Asia. These numbers do not include the off-site water footprint associated with electricity generation. For inference (i.e., conversation with ChatGPT), our estimate shows that ChatGPT needs a 500-ml bottle of water for a short conversation of roughly 20 to 50 questions and answers, depending on when and where the model is deployed. Given ChatGPT’s huge user base, the total water footprint for inference can be enormous. Then, we further studied the unique spatial-temporal diversities of AI models’ runtime water efficiency—the water efficiency changes over time and over locations. This implies that there’s potential to reduce AI’s water footprint by dynamically scheduling AI workloads and tasks at certain times and in certain locations, the way we reduce our electricity bills by utilizing the low electricity prices during the night to charge our electric vehicles. Syed: How does this water footprint compare to something like, say, beef? We might see from some websites that beef and jeans have a big water footprint, but their water footprint is for the entire life cycle and includes a large portion of nonpotable water. For example, the water footprint of jeans starts from cotton growth. Ren: In our study, we only consider the operational water footprint (i.e., water consumption associated with training and running the AI models), whereas the embodied water footprint (e.g., water footprint associated with AI server manufacturing and transportation, including chipmaking) is excluded. If we factor in the embodied water footprint for AI models, my gut feeling is that the overall water footprint would be easily increased by 10 times or even more. Syed: I’m particularly curious about how carbon reduction and water conservation might be in tension with one another. What do you mean when you ask whether we should “follow or unfollow the sun”? Water efficiency mostly depends on the outside temperature as well as energy fuel mixes for electricity generation. Carbon-efficient hours/locations do not mean water-efficient hours/locations, and sometimes they’re even opposite to each other. Ren: Water-conscious users may prefer to use the inference services of AI models during water-efficient hours and/or in water-efficient data centers…. For example, in California, there’s a high solar energy production around noon, and this leads to the most carbon-efficient hours, but around noon, the outside temperature is also high, and hence the water efficiency is the worst. As a result, if we only consider carbon footprint reduction (say, by scheduling more AI training around noon), we’ll likely end up with higher water consumption, which is not truly sustainable for AI. On the other hand, if we only reduce water footprint (say, by scheduling AI training at midnight), we may increase the carbon footprint due to less solar energy available. Syed: It’s clear that tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are betting big on the future of AI, but are we seeing them make environmental considerations a priority in their development? Yes, we’ve been seeing water footprint emerge as a priority in the sustainability reports of several tech giants such as , , and . Ren: Google Microsoft Meta Also, legislators have recently begun to consider the impact of data centers’ water usage on the local environment. For example, in Virginia, where Loudon County is known as the “data center capital of the world,” , proposed early this year, would require “a site assessment … to examine the effect of the data center on water usage and carbon emissions as well as any impacts on agricultural resources.” SB 1078 Most of the industry’s efforts so far have been focused on improving the on-site water efficiency from the “engineering” perspective, e.g., improving the data center’s cooling tower efficiency and processing recycled water instead of tapping into the local potable water resources. Nonetheless, the vast majority of data centers still use potable water and cooling towers. For example, even tech giants such as Google heavily rely on cooling towers and consume billions of liters of potable water each year. Such huge water consumption has produced a stress on the local water infrastructure; Google’s data center used in The Dalles, Ore. Moreover, many data centers are also located in drought-prone areas such as California. more than a quarter of all the water Our study shows that “when” and “where” to train a large AI model can significantly affect the water footprint. The underlying reason is the spatial-temporal diversity of both on-site and off-site water usage effectiveness (WUE)—on-site WUE changes due to variations of outside weather conditions, and off-site WUE changes due to variations of the grid’s energy fuel mixes to meet time-varying demands. In fact, WUE varies at a much faster timescale than monthly or seasonably. Therefore, by exploiting spatial-temporal diversity of WUE, we can dynamically schedule AI model training and inference to cut the water footprint. For example, if we train a small AI model, we can schedule the training task at midnight and/or in a data center location with better water efficiency. Likewise, some water-conscious users may prefer to use the inference services of AI models during water-efficient hours and/or in water-efficient data centers, which can contribute to the reduction of AI models’ water footprint for inference. Such demand-side water management complements the existing engineering-based on-site water-saving approaches that focus on the supply side. Also, our approach is software-based and hence can be used together with any cooling systems for free without particular requirements on the climate conditions or new cooling system installations. By having more transparency, we’d be able to know exactly when and where we have the most water-efficient AI models. Syed: You propose transparency as a helpful next step. What questions could greater transparency help us answer? By having more transparency, we’d be able to know exactly when and where we have the most water-efficient AI models. Ren: Transparency also makes it possible to measure, benchmark, and improve the AI models’ water footprint, which can be of great value to the research community. Currently, some AI conferences have requested that authors declare their AI models’ carbon footprint in their papers; we believe that with transparency and awareness, authors can also declare their AI models’ water footprint as part of the environmental impact. With such information, AI model developers can better schedule their AI model training and also exploit the spatial-temporal diversity to better route the users’ inference requests to save water with little to zero degradation in other performance metrics. Additionally, transparency can also let users know their water footprint at runtime and better their water footprint (say, they might want to defer some nonurgent inference requests to water-efficient hours if possible). Apple has integrated clean energy scheduling into its iPhone products by selecting low-carbon hours for charging, and we hope that water-aware AI training and inference can also be turned into reality in the future. I hope you found this as thought-provoking as I did! This one hit especially close to home: My dad and sister are both water resources engineers, and I grew up in drought-riddled Southern California. We’re in a technological boom, for sure—but innovation should serve our public good, not obliterate it. Thanks for reading! Always, Nabiha Syed Chief Executive Officer The Markup By Nabiha Syed Also published here Photo by on David Becker Unsplash

AI Tech and Its Secret Water Footprint 

এআই টেক এবং এর সিক্রেট ওয়াটার ফুটপ্রিন্ট

KI-Technologie und ihr geheimer Wasser-Fußabdruck

La tecnología de inteligencia artificial y su huella hídrica secreta

La technologie IA et son empreinte hydrique secrète

एआई टेक और इसका गुप्त जल पदचिह्न

AI テクノロジーとその秘密の水のフットプリント

AI 기술과 그 비밀의 물 발자국

AI Tech e sua pegada hídrica secreta

Технологии искусственного интеллекта и их секретный водный след

Yapay Zeka Teknolojisi ve Gizli Su Ayak İzi

Công nghệ AI và dấu chân nước bí mật của nó

人工智能技术及其秘密水足迹

The rapidly increasing popularity of cryptocurrency has sparked discussions not only about its potential but also about its environmental impact. While the promise of decentralized currencies and blockchain technology is enticing, rising concerns regarding the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency have surfaced as a significant point of contention. The Impact of Crypto on the Planet While many point to cryptocurrency as the future, the concerns regarding its impact on our planet are more than warranted. The carbon footprint of cryptocurrency mining is substantial. A Cambridge University study estimated that Bitcoin mining alone consumes more electricity than entire countries like Argentina or the Netherlands. This energy-intensive process primarily relies on fossil fuels, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbating climate change concerns. In another study out of Cambridge University, it was discovered that since its inception, cryptocurrency has accounted for over 200 million tons of Carbon Dioxide pollution, with 92% of those emissions coming in the past five years. Cryptocurrency mining, the process by which new coins are created and transactions are verified, predominantly relies on energy-intensive computational power. The most well-known cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum utilize a consensus mechanism known as Proof of Work (PoW). PoW requires miners to solve complex mathematical problems, consuming substantial amounts of electricity in the process. This energy consumption has led to mounting worries about the environmental sustainability of these digital currencies. Addressing the environmental challenges posed by cryptocurrency requires multifaceted solutions. One avenue involves transitioning toward alternative consensus mechanisms. How to Address the Environmental Challenges Proof of Stake (PoS), utilized by some cryptocurrencies like Cardano and Ethereum 2.0 (in the process of transitioning), requires far less energy by allowing validators to create new blocks based on the number of coins they hold, rather than computational power. This shift can significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with mining. Furthermore, the utilization of renewable energy sources presents a viable solution. Initiatives to power mining operations with renewable energy, such as hydroelectric, solar, or wind power, have gained traction within the crypto community. Some mining farms have already made commitments to operate entirely on renewable energy, aiming to mitigate the environmental impact of their operations, with roughly 52% of crypto farms turning to the environmentally sound practice. This number is only expected to grow in the further years along with other practices being introduced to the crypto space. The most popular renewable energy source for mining cryptocurrency has been hydropower which powers roughly a quarter of all cryptomining operations. This was pioneered by HydroCryp, a Canadian-based company that utilizes water from the Parana River to generate hydroelectric energy for their power plants. This practice has helped HydroCryp achieve one of the lowest Kw/hr prices globally at just 0.045 Kw/hr. In addition to hydropower being used to help mitigate the environmental effects of cryptocurrency mining, companies have utilized wind power via turbines to account for roughly 15% of mining operations, with solar and nuclear-powered farms accounting for a similar percentage. In a recent study done by Cornell University in the United States, it was found that in periods of excess power generation, the revenue made from these mining operations could be substantial, allowing profits to be reinvested into other eco-friendly mining practices. Texas is currently leading the way in eco-friendly mining practices with 32 projects currently planned that are projected to make roughly 50 million dollars combined, providing an economic rise for both the State of Texas and crypto as a whole. Moreover, encouraging and incentivizing eco-friendly practices within the crypto sphere, such as carbon offset programs have become increasingly popular in recent years. These programs aim to counteract carbon emissions produced by various activities, including cryptocurrency operations, by investing in projects that reduce or offset an equivalent amount of carbon elsewhere. Participants calculate their carbon footprint and then invest in verified projects such as reforestation or renewable energy to mitigate their environmental impact. These programs promote environmental responsibility by supporting initiatives that reduce greenhouse gases which in turn contributes to a more sustainable future. Additionally, improving the efficiency of mining hardware and exploring innovative cooling mechanisms can contribute to reducing energy consumption in cryptocurrency mining. Advancements in technology might offer more energy-efficient solutions, making mining operations greener and more sustainable. In conclusion, acknowledging and addressing the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency mining is crucial for the long-term viability and acceptance of digital currencies. Embracing alternative consensus mechanisms, integrating renewable energy sources, and fostering eco-conscious practices within the crypto ecosystem are pivotal steps toward minimizing the environmental impact of this transformative technology. Balancing innovation with sustainability will be instrumental in shaping a more environmentally responsible future for cryptocurrencies.

The Carbon Footprint of Cryptocurrency: Challenges and Solutions

While rapid digital transformation has enhanced operational efficiency in several respects, it has also created a relentless challenge: data breaches. In July, hackers broke into US government contractor Maximus’s system and accessed sensitive health-related data of at least 8 million US citizens. That same month PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker platform, was hit, and over 110,000 customers’ social security numbers, names, and addresses were accessed. helps businesses worldwide avoid such breaches. Sekur Private Data Ltd. “Our prime directive is to provide private and secure communications for everyone, and, as we are not connected to any Big Tech cloud platform, we offer a truly independent, private, and secure means of communications without any data mining,” Sekur CEO Alain Ghiai explains. The company has its own infrastructure and technology and is hosted in Switzerland, a country that boasts the strictest privacy laws in the world, so there’s no better place on earth to store user data securely. In response to increased business email compromise cases, Sekur has announced the launch of Sekur Enterprise Solutions, a critical service for enterprises and governments. Notable features in this service include full user management, message and email archiving features, and an admin dashboard for mass onboarding and employee management. Enterprise’s upgraded email will also provide a split-level feature that allows the C-level to use Sekur’s network without migrating the rest of the company. ’s proprietary suite of privacy solutions comprises SekurMail, SekurVPN, and SekurMessenger. SekurMail’s send/reply feature enables users to communicate privately and securely with non-Sekur users without compromising data security. All communications happen only in Sekur’s secure Swiss servers, providing extra privacy and protection from cyber hacks and business email compromise attacks (“BEC”). Sekur SekurVPN keeps users anonymous and shields their digital footprints from prying eyes on the internet. The virtual private network (VPN) uses proprietary technology instead of open source, is easy to use and set up, and leaves zero traces of what you’re transferring. Unlike some in the market, SekurVPN has its own infrastructure, does not use third party hosting and does not pull traffic data or resell it to advertisers. Sekur’s Messenger feature is just as secure and private. It has a self-destructing function for chats on all devices, 100% end-to-end encryption, a chat-by-invite feature for non-Sekur users and a new enterprise version coming in October, with full compliance for the financial and other industries, including long term archiving and users’ management console. “Privacy is in the DNA of Sekur and its people,” Ghiai reiterates. “We never data mine or monitor your information. Our goal is to always think of ways to best provide the ultimate privacy through various features, such as never asking for your phone number when signing up to SekurMessenger, protecting people from phone hackers, and introducing new security features.” With increased data breaches at even the biggest tech giants in the world, Sekur Private Data Ltd. is leaving nothing to chance. As the CEO explains, the team is always looking for ways to enhance their robust business solutions to protect their customers. “We plan to launch SekurVoice and SekurIdentity in 2024 in order to expand on our privacy communications platform,” he discloses. “A Sekur browser is not out of the question sometime in the future either.” Ghiai also hints that the company will be completing an uplisting to the Nasdaq market to have better market visibility and access to growth capital. This story was distributed as a release by Ascend under HackerNoon’s Brand As An Author Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author

Securing Your Digital Footprints: Sekur Private Data Ltd. Charts the Future

Asegure sus huellas digitales: Sekur Private Data Ltd. traza el futuro

Sécurisez vos empreintes numériques : Sekur Private Data Ltd. trace l’avenir

अपने डिजिटल फ़ुटप्रिंट सुरक्षित करें: सेकुर प्राइवेट डेटा लिमिटेड भविष्य का चार्ट बनाता है

デジタル フットプリントを保護: Sekur Private Data Ltd. が未来を描く

Proteja suas pegadas digitais: Sekur Private Data Ltd. traça o futuro

Bảo vệ dấu chân kỹ thuật số của bạn: Sekur Private Data Ltd. Định hình tương lai

保护您的数字足迹：Sekur Private Data Ltd. 描绘未来

Fueling Global Digital Economies: Dubai's Pioneering Virtual Assets Initiative The evolution of the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (DVARA) has undeniably marked Dubai's ascent as a globally recognized hub for virtual assets. This ground-breaking initiative, led by Dubai, signifies its strategic foresight in adapting to the rapidly changing dynamics of the world economies, now increasingly powered by digital currencies and assets. DVARA, with its dual mandate, regulates and cultivates growth and innovation within the digital assets landscape, safeguarding the financial system's stability. The blend of Dubai's robust regulatory framework, financial acumen, and steadfast commitment to fostering innovation has substantially reinforced its foothold in the global virtual assets spectrum. Looking ahead, Dubai exhibits a relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation. It continually strives to architect advanced regulations and enhance its infrastructure, mirroring its ambitious leadership vision. The momentum gained by Dubai in the global virtual assets market is propelled by its bold and innovative leadership vision. The city's unique selling proposition is its proactive, adaptive, and embracive approach towards technological evolution, echoing its ultimate ambition of transforming itself into the world's most technologically sophisticated and digitally integrated city. An anecdote that aptly portrays this transformation can be seen in the inception of DVARA itself. The leadership recognized the potential of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies early on. In 2018, they started drafting regulations and frameworks, while many were still skeptical. Fast forward to the present, and this early adoption has proven to be a game-changer, solidifying Dubai’s position in the digital economy. Another interesting case is the launch of a state-backed digital currency in 2023, further demonstrating the city's digital-first approach. These instances exemplify the city’s ability to turn vision into reality, and it is this propensity to pioneer that will undoubtedly continue to define its future. MaskEX's Global Ambition: 300% Workforce Growth and a Strong Presence in Dubai Embarking on a remarkable journey of global expansion, MaskEX, an innovative crypto exchange, sets its sights firmly on the MENA, CIS, and SEA regions. With a strategy to triple its workforce by the end of Q3, MaskEX is rapidly emerging as a substantial player within the global crypto exchange landscape. Methodically, the firm is assembling proficient and diverse teams across several domains, including marketing, IT, legal, business development, and compliance, in order to augment its international footprint. : Vested Interest Disclosure The author is an independent contributor publishing via our . Be it through direct compensation, media partnerships, or networking, the author has a vested interest in the company/ies mentioned in this story. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR brand-as-author program Interestingly, MaskEX is making progressive strides in establishing its presence in key global locations, with Dubai, UAE, prominently in focus. The recent initial approval from Dubai's VARA for the FMP License marks a crucial milestone in MaskEX's mission to extend its state-of-the-art services to this dynamic region. Despite not currently serving the Dubai market, MaskEX's unwavering commitment to bring its top-tier crypto trading platform to the city's populace remains resolute. Looking into the future, Dubai's role in MaskEX's ambitious expansion strategy is undeniably significant. The city's flourishing crypto industry, combined with its visionary leadership and supportive regulatory environment, provides a conducive platform for MaskEX's growth trajectory. In testament to this, MaskEX is constructing its new headquarters in the prestigious Mashreq Bank Headquarters in Downtown Dubai, signifying MaskEX's steadfast commitment to integrating itself into Dubai's rapidly evolving crypto market. What sets MaskEX apart is its focus on constructing a comprehensive financial ecosystem, rather than simply being a trading platform. The ongoing development of MaskEX Pay, an innovative solution that blends blockchain technology with traditional financial infrastructure, embodies this unique approach. MaskEX's primary aim is to empower individuals and businesses worldwide, thereby proactively addressing the challenges of the traditional financial system. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Image credits: AI

MaskEX Expands Global Footprint, Eyes 300% Workforce Growth by Q3

FOOTPRINTS OF COLONIZATION

Mysterious Footprints

Nowadays a lot of websites and apps offer the service of calculating your carbon emissions and the ways to offset them. The websites and apps providing such services have various types of APIs at their disposal, and here are some of the most popular ones. Cloverly API Cloverly API offers you to offset carbon emissions by calculating the amount you produced. It can assess carbon emissions in several categories: Ecommerce (emissions from shipping a package), Freight (emissions from freight shipping), Travel (emissions from air travel, use of personal vehicles and hotel stays), and Utility (electricity and fuel). Cloverly API is used by several websites and services, for example Aclymate, a software platform that help companies to become more sustainable. AwardWallet Email Parsing API AwardWallet Email Parsing API collects information from users’ emails which then can be used to calculate carbon emissions. The good thing about that is that users do not need to enter any details manually, because the process is automated if they give their consent. The API parses any travel related data, such as flights, train trips, cruises, car rentals, hotel stays and more. AwardWallet Email Parsing API is used by a variety of companies, but its greenest partners are probably AirCare and Bearth. Carbon API Carbon API collects information about different types of carbon emissions, such as: energy consumption, air travel, freight, shipment, logistics, fuel consumption, ground and marine transport. It then processes the data and returns the result in kilos of carbon. Climatiq API Climatiq API is focused mainly on business operations, so it’s a great option for corporations. The API calculates carbon emissions produced by transportation and logistics, purchased goods and services, computer use, energy consumption, flights and air cargo, supply chain.  The Climatiq API is already used by Celonis, a global company that specializes in process mining helping other companies to improve their business operations. Lune API Lune API provides its partners with the ability to estimate carbon emissions and offset them via environmental projects. The types of carbon emissions include: air travel, shipping, transactions, electricity consumption, company emissions (office-related emissions, employee transportation, food, drinks, electronic equipment and computing or networking operations).  Lune API is used by Budbee, a sustainable delivery company which takes environmental issues rather seriously and mostly uses vehicles working on electricity or renewable diesel. GreenStory API GreenStory API is a good fit for online and offline stores who want to become greener. It calculates and offsets the product’s carbon emission at all stages: production, shipping and use. Greenstory API is already used by such famous brands as Esprit and Pangaia. The list goes on as more environmental APIs emerge by the minute, but these are the ones that will add sustainability to your app. Carbon footprint APIs help both companies and users to track and offset their carbon input while also help the community by supporting the environmental projects. I hope that the implementation of at least one of these APIs will spur the growth of your product and provide you with tools for further development.

Help Users Determine Their Carbon Footprint With These APIs

Cybersecurity risks are a bit like icebergs. While you're busy monitoring a small percentage of your visible digital activity, a much larger, more complicated journey is taking place deep beneath the surface. An average person generates 2 megabytes of data . User data, instant messages, browser activity, online forms and media content combine into a river of sensitive information being generated, stored, and shared without user oversight or knowledge. per second As cyber threats increase, understanding and limiting your digital footprint becomes key in reducing your exposure and eliminating many risks associated with data breaches and social engineering attacks. What is a digital footprint? Your digital footprint refers to the trail of information you generate when creating, sharing, or storing any digital data. It includes websites you visit, emails you send, and information you submit online. Most of your digital footprint is often not accessible to you but instead stored in third-party servers and databases. Therefore, it's vital to understand how your data is being preserved and potentially exposed to cybersecurity threats. At the same time, the rise of cloud computing makes managing your digital footprint significantly more critical. SaaS applications and cloud databases have become ubiquitous at home and work, spreading your sensitive information far more quickly and making it nearly impossible to track or secure. Why do digital footprints matter? Your digital footprint is primarily permanent, and it grows daily. Most data is shared without default restrictions, meaning other parties retain a copy even if you delete information from your devices. Since the future is uncertain, it's best to avoid granting perpetual access to your sensitive information unless necessary. More specifically, cybercriminals profit from . Identity theft, phishing attacks, and ransomware are all predicated on a hacker's ability to access your sensitive information. The larger your digital footprint, the more likely you'll be subject to a successful attack. exploiting personal or corporate digital footprints Finally, for companies that store customer data, tracking exactly how this data is being harvested, stored and used is critical. You'll need to comply with privacy and data protection laws and ensure that stored data remains secure. Limiting your digital footprint as much as possible (while continuing to support your IT and business needs) makes it much easier and less costly to handle safely while simultaneously reducing your risk of data leaks and reputational damage. Reducing your digital footprint with SharePass One of the most effective strategies to limit your digital footprint is data wiping; that is, regularly reviewing and deleting any data that is no longer relevant, safe, or necessary. However, fewer than 5% of companies report having an effective data-wiping process. Even worse, data wiping rarely accounts for sensitive information downloaded to a third-party application or database. With , data wiping occurs automatically and proactively. Every time new data is shared, it is tagged with a customizable time-to-live along with various controls limiting who, when, and where it is accessible. Rather than generating and sharing information blindly, SharePass allows you to based on an IP address, PIN, or even facial recognition. This way, data wiping occurs automatically, destroying any digital footprint. SharePass set custom controls SharePass also provides a central portal to track how your data is accessed and allows you to edit your permissions or delete your data at any time from any device. SharePass's digital footprint manager keeps you and your customers safe even in the worst-case scenario. Don't risk it. SharePass it!

What is Digital Footprint Management?

Many things that we do on this planet eventually generate the greenhouse gases that constitute the growing carbon footprint that can no longer be ignored. As governments are actively seeking ways to introduce effective measures against the threatening pace of climate change, the investors’ interest in the cleantech sector increases. The rise of green tech has inspired many entrepreneurs and scientists to step forward with innovative solutions that have the potential of reversing the damage that humanity has made to Planet Earth. As the goal of reaching “Net Zero” by 2050 still remains miraculous, technology seems to be our main hope for positive change. What Can Be Done to Reduce Carbon Footprint? ✅ Develop green air travel technologies Aviation accounts for up to 2-3% of carbon dioxide emissions. It’s much less than the amount coming from electricity or agriculture, yet these figures are much more significant than they may seem: thanks to the pandemic, the overall amount of emissions in 2020 dropped by a few hundred million tons. As since then we’ve got back to full-scale traveling, it’s pointless to hope for a reduction in air travel in the near future – so the only way to deal with it is to make it more sustainable. It’s highly unlikely that we will have access to zero-emissions air travel in the near future, but the foundation for developing such options has been set. In the future, we are likely to see more aviation companies switching to sustainable biofuel, an increasingly growing number of eclectic jets, and possibly hydrogen-powered planes. Startups to watch: Sylphaero France Country: 2020 Founding year: The company focuses on facilitating the adoption of alternative engines in aviation by developing electric batteries, propulsion systems, solar cells, and the actual engines that efficiently convert electricity into heat. What they do: Tessomo Technologies Ireland Country: 2018 Founding year: While biofuel may seem like a great alternative to traditional fossil fuels, its production may easily result in an uncompensated amount of CO2 – thus completely neutralizing the positive effect of its adoption. To fight this problem, Tessomo Technologies have introduced a solution for transforming recycled waste into liquid fuel. What they do: ZeroAvia : Britain / USA Country 2017 Founding year: This startup has already raised $140 for developing alternative flying technologies based on renewable hydrogen-powered aviation. Although its first test flights will reportedly be hybrid, the company’s vision is to make completely emission-free flights possible in the foreseeable future. What they do: ✅ Electric transport development It’s probably needless to say that cars and other vehicles moving off fossil fuel energy cause enormous damage to our climate. Although many car manufacturers have already introduced various electric alternatives to traditional means of transport, a large number of issues in this field still remain unsolvable. How do we make electric cars more affordable for the population? How long will it take to build the outstanding charging infrastructure in every location? Finally, how do we make the electric vehicle manufacturing process less harmful? These tech ventures might offer us some answers. Startups to watch: Hylico France Country: 2021 Founding year: The company offers commercial carbon-negative electric vehicles. Hylico trucks are due to be released in 2023 with a promise to run on hydrogen produced via biomass thermolysis – a process of transforming waste from the wood industry into organic charcoal fertilizer. What they do: Nowos Netherlands Country: 2019 Founding year: Nowos helps cut the need for battery manufacturing by bringing new energy to the existing batteries. The startup specializes in repairing, refurbishing, and recycling lithium batteries in order to make the electric vehicle industry more sustainable. What they do: VinFast Vietnam Country: 2017 Founding year: The company focuses on manufacturing all-electric sport-utility vehicles with a special subscription scheme for battery maintenance. The consumers signing up for the subscription are eligible for free battery maintenance and replacement as its capacity drops over time. What they do: ✅ Reduce animal product consumption Meat production is by far one of the most environmentally harmful industries. It’s one of the major causes of deforestation, loss of biodiversity, excessive water usage – and greenhouse gas emissions. Animals – particularly cows and sheep – create enormous amounts of methane as they digest food and produce manure. Overall, the meat and dairy industry is responsible for about 14,5% of global greenhouse emissions. While simply lowering the consumption of meat is already a significant step towards more sustainable agricultural practices, what would make a real difference at this point is a synergy of different technologies offering animal product alternatives. Startups to watch: Air Protein USA Country: 2019 Founding year: This startup strives to become a carbon-negative company by transforming captured CO2 into alternative meat. The technology is based on the findings made by NASA scientists, who discovered that a certain type of microbes can convert carbon dioxide combined with water and energy into highly nutritious protein. What they do: vly Germany Country: 2019 Founding year: As it’s become clear that soy products can be j , green tech enthusiasts have been on the lookout for better alternatives – and this German startup seems to have found one. Vly produces vegan milk made from yellow spit peas – a great source of natural protein with a much lower carbon footprint. What they do: ust as harmful to the environment as meat Jiminy’s USA Country: : 2016 Founding year A large percentage of our meat consumption comes from pet food manufacturing. This company has come up with a creative approach to the problem by replacing the meat protein in dog food with insect protein – or, specifically, crickets. Jiminy’s produces healthy and sustainable nutrition for pets that seems to be appreciated by both the owners and their pets. What they do: ✅ Capture CO2 from the atmosphere One of the ways to reverse greenhouse emissions is to capture carbon dioxide from the air. A huge problem with the current technologies for direct CO2 capturing is, however, that such machines use an unjustifiable amount of global energy supplies. That’s why this topic has been one of the hottest challenges for climate tech ventures – a sustainable and scalable way to collect CO2 is yet to be discovered. Consequently, the other focus for climate tech startups is the actual utilization of the captured gas. Turns out there are many ways to put CO2 into sustainable production, with more and more creative approaches coming up as the technology evolves. Startups to watch: Carbon Infinity United Kingdom Country: 2019 Founding year: This startup is determined to introduce a modular technology that would make capturing CO2 easier and more cost-effective, making carbon removal a largely scalable technology. The vision of the company is to de-fossilize the economy by extracting and storing large amounts of greenhouse gas for industrial use. What they do: SeeO2 : Canada Country 2019 Founding year: This startup has focused its solutions on converting the captured carbon dioxide into sustainable fuels and chemicals for industrial use. SeeO2 is currently developing reversible solid oxide fuel cells that would make it possible to convert water into hydrogen and carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide. What they do: Aether Diamonds USA Country: 2019 Founding year: The company claims to have produced the world’s first diamonds made from air. Aether Diamonds offers sustainable jewelry featuring precious stones that were created in the lab setting using captured CO2. While their mined analogs cause irreparable damage to our planet because of the harmful extraction process, the lab-manufactured diamonds contribute to reducing global warming without compromising their beauty. What they do: ✅ Maximise the potential of alternative energy resources It’s not all about wind turbines and solar energy panels – there’s much more to alternative energy resources that are yet to be discovered and scaled. Various ways of extracting clean fuels and sustainable electricity from repurposed waste processed CO2, and other non-traditional sources provide an array of different niches for startups to take over. While many of the existing technologies for alternative energy extraction are still relatively hard to scale, the growing number of such solutions gives hope for the massive adoption of these technologies in the future. Startups to watch: EH Group Switzerland Country: 2017 Founding year: EH Group explores the green fuel cell technology that transforms the chemical energy of hydrogen cells into sustainable electricity. The company focuses on making compact solutions suitable for mobile and automotive applications that are sensitive to the weight and volume of the devices’ details. What they do: Carbo Culture Finland Country: 2016 Founding year: Carbo Culture has introduced a technology for converting waste biomass into carbon-negative charcoal. The startup prevents the release of CO2 from decomposing plants into the atmosphere by transforming them into biochar and generating usable heat. What they do: Liquid Wind Sweden Country: 2017 Founding year: The company produces a special type of alternative fuel – eMethanol, a liquid fuel made from carbon dioxide and renewable electricity. The company is currently developing its first commercial-scale eMethanol facility in Sweden. What they do: ✅ Make green technologies more accessible to consumers Many eco-friendly technologies are targeting the problems caused by various industrial processes. Meanwhile, we shouldn’t underestimate the input of each household into climate change. It isn’t fair, however, to expect people to invest in solutions that cost far more than their traditional alternatives. Consumer-friendly technologies for utilizing natural clean energy resources, home-based recycling activities and other things that make our everyday life greener are on the rise – and so are their cost-effective variations. Startups to watch: Elfrosun Technologies India Country: 2018 Founding year: Elfrosun Technologies is making solar panels for households more affordable for the population – which especially makes sense considering that the company is heavily focused on its home market, India. Elfrosun raises awareness about the benefits of solar power to gain more recognition and generate interest in the technology. What they do: Aeroshield USA Country: 2019 Founding year: How often do we think about the role of windows in climate change? Yet apparently the way we regulate the temperature in our homes can be transformed by the right technology that will help us preserve the thermal comfort in our homes. This startup develops affordable energy-efficient windows for every household. What they do: Sensorflow Singapore Country: 2016 Founding year: Is it possible to make our leisure travels more environmentally friendly? Yes – and Sensorflow does its best to help. The company provides smart solutions for hotel management and maintenance, saving up to 30% of each facility’s energy costs while reducing the carbon footprint of each hotel room and its inhabitants. What they do: Raising awareness and providing simple instruments for calculating the carbon footprint It’s hard to be conscious about your carbon footprint when you don’t have a clear idea of how exactly your actions contribute to generating CO2 – and this equally applies to businesses and individuals. Software solutions and apps that help us track our CO2 input, just as reliable sources of information that help us find out how to be more environmentally conscious, play an important role in making our future a better place. Startups to watch: Sync Energy AI USA Country: 2016 Founding year: The startup offers an AI-based predictive software platform for insurance and energy professionals. Sync Energy provides a powerful tool for recreating complex simulations for planning electrical utilities in various conditions, including natural disasters. What they do: Evocco Ireland Country: 2017 Founding year: Evocco is a smart app for helping consumers make the most our of their environmentally-friendly grocery shopping. The tool helps you find the most nutritious food for your everyday cooking with the lowest potential carbon footprint. What they do: Plan A Germany Country: 2019 Founding year: Plan A is one of the many startups that strive to facilitate carbon accounting for businesses. Yet it’s one of the few ones that have created a genuinely convenient platform for measuring, monitoring, and reducing carbon emissions along with providing quality ESG reporting. What they do: Also published . here

Top 21 Startups That Are Committed to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint

If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s to be grateful for what we have and to care for the things and people that matter to us the most. COVID brought to our attention the need to reset our priorities and take stock of what is truly worthy of our time, efforts, and affections. In 2022, we can be grateful that the pandemic seems to be behind us for the most part, although it has altered us and shifted our worldview permanently. We’ve seen firsthand the fragility of our own existence. Now that the COVID is not such a threat, that fact of our fragility is no less true and there are still things that threaten our entire global population. Of course, one of the most pressing issues for many years has been that of climate change and the need for a major shift toward sustainability. Much like COVID, this issue affects every individual and every industry, including that of finance. In the past 5 years, have made changes to their purchasing habits to move toward more sustainable companies and a smaller carbon footprint for themselves. However, many of us may not consider that even the act of these purchases can contribute to CO2 emissions. 85% of consumers In fact, there are billions of purchases and credit card transactions every single day. These, along with thousands of new credit organizations, each result in carbon emissions and are a large part of the problem for the environment. Fortunately, the majority of executives in the financial industry are taking note of this issue and seeing it as a priority to tackle over the next few years. They’re aware that consumers want clean options in all of their business dealings and they are aware of their responsibility to make major moves toward “net zero” within their organizations. One of the most significant efforts these companies can make is to . Cloud computing has the potential to save more than 629 million metric tons of CO2 within the span of three years. It’s a sustainable option for the financial industry and can benefit finance organizations as well as the consumers they serve. transfer their operations to the cloud

Moving Toward a Lower Carbon Footprint in the Finance Industry

As companies continue to migrate their workloads from on-premise solutions to public Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) like AWS, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand the complete picture of what might be running within an organization’s cloud. Even simple applications commonly have multiple environments such as Development, Staging, and Production. For more complex workloads, there are additional environments, microservices, queues, notification services (e.g. SNS, SES), data stores, and more. Even when all this resides under a single AWS account, it is hard to conceptualize let alone manage sprawling cloud resources. Take two seemingly simple questions: “How many EC2 instances am I currently running across all my AWS accounts?” and, “Have I correctly tagged all of my production environment EC2 instances with ?”. These are very difficult to answer using the AWS console or CLI. environment: production This difficulty is compounded by common best practices such as spreading resources across regions and separating workloads across several accounts within an AWS Organization. Performing an inventory using the AWS console requires keeping a manual count while changing regions and accounts to ensure you didn’t miss anything. Unfortunately, using the AWS CLI is not much easier. For each region and account you wish to query, you need to multiple commands, calling the correct APIs for each asset type (i.e. ). Then you must manually aggregate the results and double-check you’re not missing any data. aws ec2 describe-instances Rather than give yourself a migraine dealing with all of this cross-region, cross-account manual data fetching – let’s see what this would look like using . CloudGraph is the free and open-source GraphQL API for AWS that vastly simplifies the process of answering asset inventory, compliance, and billing questions. CloudGraph So how do you get started? First, you using the single install command: install CloudGraph npm install npm install -g @cloudgraph/cli Next, you scan of your AWS accounts at once by configuring CloudGraph using the credentials you already have stored in your local ~/.aws/credentials file (see the if you’d like more information on that). You can also scan accounts using IAM roles if you prefer. Initialize CloudGraph for our AWS accounts by running the following command: all CloudGraph AWS provider README cg init aws If you have a local AWS credentials file, you should see a list of profiles to select. In my case, I will choose the profiles and so I can scan the AWS accounts running my Development and Production environments. default master Next, you can pick the regions you want CloudGraph to scan. In my case this is , , and . If you’re unsure what regions you have resources in, you can always select them all. CloudGraph will automatically scan . If necessary, this can be modified by passing the flag to the init command (see the for more information on passing flags). us-east-1 us-east-2 us-west-1 all supported resources -r CloudGraph README Now you are ready to scan your AWS accounts! Run the following command to launch a local instance of , the graph database that CloudGraph uses to locally store your data. Dgraph cg launch And finally, run the following command to scan all of your configured AWS accounts, regions, and services: cg scan aws Feel free to grab a quick cup of coffee while this runs. After the scan is complete, CloudGraph will open the you selected in the step. You can use this query tool to ask pretty much any question about your AWS resources. GraphQL query tool cg init Let’s answer the first question I posed at the start of this post: “How many EC2 instances are currently running across all my AWS accounts?”. This is simple to answer with CloudGraph. As you can see, I have 46 EC2 instances running across the two environments I chose to scan. Note that CloudGraph also provides the total of all scanned resources in the report printed at the end of each scan. Maybe I want to take this a step further and view metadata about these EC2 instances such as their . I can easily run a GraphQL query against my EC2 instances and request only the specific metadata I care about. instanceType Now let's answer the second question I posed: “Have I correctly tagged all of my production environment EC2 instances with ?”. I could actually do this in a couple of different ways. environment: production First, I could directly query the EC2 instances in Production and see their tags, like so: query {
  queryawsEc2(filter: {accountId: {eq: "632*****77"}}) {
      id
      tags {
        key
        value
      }
  }
} This output clearly shows me all my EC2 instances in account “632…” and their tags. A second and more direct way of asking this question would be to use and filter on the key and value I would like to target: queryawsTag query {
  queryawsTag(filter: {key: {eq: "environment"} and: {value: {eq: "production"}}}) {
    ec2Instance(filter: {accountId: {eq: "632*****77"}}) {
      id
      arn
    }
  }
} Now I’m only getting back EC2 instances that are tagged with “environment: production”. This would also work for other taggable AWS resources such as VPCs, IAM users, S3 buckets, or EKS clusters. CloudGraph makes it easy to inventory your assets no matter how many different regions or accounts they reside in. The sky's the limit for what you can query! If you have any questions or suggestions on how we can improve CloudGraph, or in the . please drop us a line on slack CloudGraph GitHub issues Director of Engineering at Tyler Dunkel AutoCloud

A Complete Inventory of Your AWS Footprint in 5 Minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake are the two major consensus mechanisms utilised by most blockchain networks. The first proof-of-work mechanism ever invented is Hashcash. Hashcash was invented in 2002 by Adam Back. Proof-of-work addresses the Byzantine Generals problem. The Byzantine Generals problem occurs when the control of a decentralised network is concentrated in a central authority. The high energy consumption rate of Bitcoin and other PoW blockchains is their biggest strength despite the environmental concerns. Proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS) have become the two foremost consensus mechanisms that most blockchains adopt to ensure consensus and preserve the state of their networks. While proof-of-work precedes proof-of-stake, both consensus algorithms require energy (electricity) to perform their basic functions. However, to what degree is their energy consumption, and how does it affect the environment in terms of carbon footprints? The first proof-of-work mechanism ever invented is Hashcash— proposed by Adam Back in 2002. PoW has evolved from the Hashcash mechanism to a more complex one utilised by Bitcoin and other older generation blockchains such as Litecoin and Ethereum. The Proof-of-work mechanism helps the Bitcoin blockchain achieve consensus across its network through distributed nodes controlled by miners. By distributing the nodes on the network among miners (scattered in different locations), the Bitcoin blockchain prevents a common problem known as the Byzantine Generals from achieving decentralisation as proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. What is the Byzantine Generals Problem? The Byzantine Generals problem is synonymous with decentralised systems like Bitcoin. On the Bitcoin network, there are several users, including miners. Miners on the network often have to arrive at a consensus on an objective or a suitable software version for the blockchain. The Byzantine Generals problem occurs when a few persons or central authority controls the bulk of a network. Owing to this, decentralisation is affected. The Bitcoin blockchain uses the proof-of-work consensus to address this issue. How Proof-of-Work Consensus Operates Proof-of-Work or PoW, just as the name implies, requires the participants of a network to perform certain tasks to secure it. The Bitcoin blockchain has miners participating on the network. These miners compete to solve cryptographic puzzles whose solution must be agreed to by all the nodes to arrive at a consensus, which is then used to validate transactions, add blocks and produce new bitcoins. Miners earn incentives for solving these puzzles and successfully adding new blocks. Mining on a proof-of-work blockchain requires a lot of computational power and energy. The mining process is done with energy-intensive special computers known as Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or mining rigs. As more miners join the network, its security improves, making it impossible for bad actors to execute spam, 51% or even denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. In the face of the arrival of more blockchain networks, a transition from the energy-intensive PoW to the more scalable proof-of-stake consensus, which consumes less energy occurred. Currently, there are several other consensus algorithms such as Proof-of-Concept, Proof-of-Authority, Delegated Proof-of-stake, amongst others. Proof-of-Stake Consensus Mechanism The PoS consensus adopts a different mining model. In this model, miners are referred to as stakers or validators and are not required to perform any cryptographic task. The proof-of-stake model replaces computational power with staking, such that the amount of tokens held by a user determines his mining power. For instance, if a user of a token's supply, he can only mine 3% of a network's blocks. Mining is done by staking tokens in a smart contract rather than mining blocks with the help of ASIC machines and a large chunk of computing power. holds 3% Due to many factors, the PoS consensus was invented as an alternative to the PoW. The first set of cryptocurrencies to adopt the proof-of-stake consensus include Nxt (NXT) and (PPC), which combine the PoW and PoS algorithms. The PoS has become the most preferred consensus algorithm, adopted by several new generation blockchains such as Algorand, Solana, and most recently, Ethereum 2.0 (ETH 2.0). Peercoin , Tezos Proof-of-Work Vs. Proof-of-Stake Both consensus algorithms boast of peculiarities that have endeared them to their thousands of users. However, blockchain users have failed to agree on one point— how much energy each consensus algorithm consumes and its effect on the environment. According to the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index , a single Bitcoin transaction consumes the same amount of energy as an average US household for 57.25 days, which is about 132.5 terawatt-hours per year. This contrasts sharply with the 2015 estimates revealed that a single Bitcoin transaction could power a US household for 1.57 days at the rate of 119.87 terawatt-hours annually. estimates According to TQ Tezos, Bitcoin's energy consumption is capable of powering like Argentina or Ukraine. While the Bitcoin blockchain relies on such an amount of energy to produce transaction blocks and new tokens, the environmental impact of this energy consumption has been a subject of concern among blockchain enthusiasts. As such, the proof-of-work consensus is criticised for its excess carbon footprint, which has been likened to driving a gas-powered Sedan for a thousand kilometres. Following this, calls have been made for a shift to a renewable energy source or, more preferably, the PoS algorithm. mid-sized countries How Much Energy Does the PoS Consume? There are no specific estimates on the amount of energy consumed by proof-of-stake networks. Notwithstanding, Danny Ryan— a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation that the energy consumption of proof-of-stake networks is 99.99% lower than proof-of-work. Ryan made this estimate in relation to Ethereum 2.0— a PoS version of the Ethereum blockchain— that is scheduled for release in Q2, 2022. stated PoS has been touted as a better consensus algorithm due to its energy efficiency. PoS leaves fewer carbon footprints than PoW because its energy consumption is lower compared to the latter. However, the high energy consumption rate of the Bitcoin blockchain and other proof-of-work networks is considered their biggest strength. This is because the larger the network becomes, the stronger its security (a major reason the Bitcoin blockchain is yet to suffer an exploit). In addition, as the price of Bitcoin increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to mine new blocks, thereby requiring more energy. Despite the negligible energy consumption rate for the PoS, it is not devoid of challenges, some of which include governance issues and its vulnerability to attack if a party holds 51% of a token's supply, enabling him to exercise total control over the network, which represents a compromise on the network's security. With such power, he can prevent other users from mining blocks. Thus, the essence of decentralisation is defeated.

Carbon Footprint: Proof-of-Work vs. Proof-of-Stake

, “There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” — Jackie French Koller 1948. Undoubtedly you heard about “digital footprint” before. But you may not truly understand what it is. Like its name, it is the “footprint” or “fingerprint” you left online. We do not use fingerprints as it would be confusing with the one . referring to cryptography Digital Footprint 101 We need to know what it is before trying to protect it. Digital Footprint is everywhere online. It is all the activities you do with keyboard and mouse, in addition to what we tap and swipe on our precious mobile devices. Here are some typical locations that we leave most of our footprint. is not just what you post but also the comments, like, tweet, retweet, and swipe left and right. Unfortunately, most platforms have very long user agreements that are difficult to read. Social Media — Make sure you keep an eye on the updates of data policies and settings. Mobile Apps — the buying habits are precious for ads and marketing. Shopping Websites — web browser as attributes that can let people identify who you are. Web Browsers uses headers and cookies Method 1 — Review Online Accounts, And Clean Them Up Most people have a few up to hundreds of different accounts online. Like signing up to various online shopping sites that you may have used once or twice because of the new member discount. More than that, there are music apps, fitness trackers, games… All of them are designed to lure users to sign-up. Each of them stores multiple personal information ranging from: names dates of birth fitness data, body measurements phone numbers credit card numbers your first pet name To make our life easier, we usually (as it skips the process to create a username and password for that application.) Not everyone is a “listaholic” who would keep a list of all the online services, online stores, or apps they signed up for over the years. leverage single sign-on (SSO) options such as social media accounts or our email addresses for quick sign-up If that’s your case, your SSO information may help you in this case. No matter which service you use to sign-up for (e.g., Google, Facebook, Apple ID), all options give you a summary of third-party apps access. Google: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3466521?hl=en Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-hk/HT204053 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/942196655898243/ With that, you can delete the associate accounts that you don’t use anymore. Moreover, take this chance to remove the access to the one that isn’t worth keeping. However, if SSO options are not selected or not available, but you used your email address instead, you can search for all the services you use by searching your email inbox for keywords like , remove, unsubscribe, and delete all sign-ups that you no longer needed. “unsubscribe,” “sign-in,” or “welcome.” Then, revoke Method 2 — Newsletter Subscription You should do one more thing from your inbox — to reduce your digital footprint by unsubscribing from newsletters that you are no longer interested in. Many newsletters are complementary to the accounts you’ve signed up for. Creating accounts for services and online stores using your email accounts would result in the bombardment of various discounted offers or time-limited in-app purchases. The fact is, Those additional data that companies have on you that could fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, we end up with hundreds of hundreds of emails arriving in the subscriptions folder of our inbox, which we won’t read, i.e., clutter. most people don’t read the user agreement when signing up but click on what gets them over the process the fastest. Once and for all, and also your spam and junk mailboxes for “deep cleaning.” Once unsubscribed, a smart move would be to create a particular email address that you’ll use for one-off purchases. go through your inbox for a newsletter that can be unsubscribed Many email service providers, free or charged, support alias email addresses that you can use for this specific purpose to isolate all newsletters and sales offers. A better option would be using a This type of service could give you access to an email address while the data would be deleted after a specific time elapses. “one-time/ disposable email address.” Method 3 — Minimize Your Digital Footprint At the Beginning It all makes sense. Once you produce less digital footprint, there are less than you need to clean up afterward. So there’s still hope — by applying “ Digital Distancing.” We now all know what social distancing is as it keeps popping up on the news. The idea of digital distancing is like when you want to talk to your boss about your salary rise, and you close the door. Keeping a digital distance could help keep you away from data breaches or eavesdropping for your digital self. In short, you can start with the following: Change your Browser — Firefox and Brave are privacy-first web browsers. Or use Tor if you need extra features. Use and the “private window” of browsers for searching. Duckduckgo Check Your App Permissions and double-check the privacy settings on social media apps. Regarding Virtual Private Network (VPN) — Assume VPN providers keep logs and check if the provider support PFS — Perfect Forward Secrecy. Also, check the privacy law and regulations of VPN providers' locations. Upgrade Your DNS Security at Home — Protecting our DNS is an essential part of internet security. It is also a way to block many tracking scripts and apps to connect and send data back to their destinations. All internet-accessing devices would have a DNS setting. Better to protect your data from the beginning. Final Words — The Most Expensive is “Free of Charge” Privacy is the ability to control who can access information about our private life and our activities, and it is critical because: Privacy is our right to choose our ideas and feelings, and most importantly, who to share with. Privacy preserves our private information, such as health or financial data, that we do not want to share. Without privacy, we are not truly free. We would preferably pay for what we need, rather than the free things given. Before using a free app, you may ask yourself, “how is this company gonna pay their employees? ”, like Google and Facebook, do you know how they become the companies this big by offering “free” services to everyone? In Japanese, there is an old saying: ( ) Why is it the most expensive? but time, privacy, health, freedom, these intangible, which are our most precious assets. “nothing costs as much as what is given to us.” ただより高いものはない Because the price you pay does not measure with money I am not trying to teach you how to be invisible online, as it is impossible to leave ZERO digital footprints unless you are . The good news is, there are easy-to-do steps to clean up your digital clutter. So let’s live like Marie Kondo online! offline and live in a cave Also Published here Thank you for reading. May InfoSec be with you🖖.

The KonMari Method for Your Digital Footprint: How to Clean up Your Digital Clutter Like Marie Kondo

Preaching to the choir (Not) Listen, I’m not here to lecture anyone. This is a lesson I learned the hard way, not once, not twice, but three times. I know for a fact that if I have read my own advice years ago, it would still take me losing everything I own (digitally) to actually learn the lesson, rather than from some stranger’s random “word of wisdom” on the internet. With that said, I still decided to write this piece to: keep myself accountable and actually follow my own advice, and maybe if there’s one other person out there who could benefit from this advice, then yay, I did one good deed! If you are reading these words, I have a few guesses about you: You probably are under the age of 35 You have spent the majority of your adult life, if not all of it, on social media in particular, and the internet at large You likely would cry if one day you woke up and curiously lost access to one (or God forbid, more) of these accounts: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, Whatsapp, Telegram, or Tiktok. Now imagine this  - that last scenario I talked about- it may will happen. It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”. Here’s how “Why Fish Don’t Exist”’s Author Lulu Miller put it: “Chaos is the only sure thing in this world. The master that rules us all. My scientist father taught me early that there is no escaping the Second Law of Thermodynamics: entropy is only growing, it can never be diminished, no matter what we do.” A Cautionary Tale (or Two) Years ago - I used to have a blog, hosted exclusively on a platform called Yahoo 360 (kids - if you have never heard of this platform - don’t bother. It wasn’t very good anyway). I spent time decorating the blog, writing random thoughts that crossed the mind of a teenager, as well as posted family vacation photos. I never really checked the traffic of the blog (I don’t think I even knew how to do that). But I remember it being a pretty important part of my life. Probably got something to do with self-expression and teen-angst if you ask me. I kept up with it for about a year or two. It was my first legit “digital diary” before social media was a thing. Then, when the parent company Yahoo struggled and decided to kill their blogging division, I lost all of my content, alongside millions of other unsuspecting users. Fast forward about 10 years later, I repeated the same mistake with yet another Yahoo product, Yahoo Mail. A lot of my life in that subsequent decade was captured on Yahoo Mail, like those of many other people in developing countries like Vietnam. I went to a high school in India, living and learning with friends from 80+ different countries all around the world (from places I never even heard of like Mauritius or Maldives). I fell in love for the first time with someone from a different country, and did the long distance thing for the majority of our relationship. I went to the States for college, wrote many academic essays, and experienced heartbreak for the first time. In those 10 years, I must have handed in hundreds of assignments and drafts with teachers, exchanged thousands of messages, links and photos with friends, written numerous long heart-felt letters to family at home, and used it as my major source of communication with my ex-es. I woke up one day, now in my late 20s, with a husband and kid, to learn that that entire decade of my life was essentially erased. Yahoo Mail just decided one day that, if you haven’t logged in to their service in x amount of time, all your content, poof, gone. Like that period of your life had never even existed. My latest feud with the internet came in the form of another blogging platform, Medium.com. As the co-owner and show-runner of , I hate it whenever I even have to mention the site Medium, so I will just give you : They fucked us bad, threatening to steal all the content off our site. They emailed literal misinformation to our writers. So, on top of moving our entire business away from a bad partner (company valuation is up more than 130X since we stopped publishing with Medium), I too personally packed my metaphorical bag and stopped blogging there. At that point, I have written 9 out of 10 blog posts in a series I titled “10 things I knew to be true.”  Oh well. I guess the 10th thing was: HackerNoon a tl;dr version Medium.com is not a good business and you should never blog there. Don’t Put all Your Eggs in One Basket What is your digital lifeline at the moment? Your Instagram stories you poured your heart into? Your Tweet threads and Favorites? Your long statuses on Facebook? Your brilliant Tiktok reactions? You might be under the illusion that your content is safe forever on these platforms, but the sad truth is you do not own any of these platforms. They all have brilliant lawyers who make sure their Terms and Conditions (you know, those things you never read?) are broad enough to cover their asses when users data either got leaked or worse, lost. Case in point: Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp were down today for 5 hours (we wrote about it a bit), causing a bit of an internet mayhem. We’re still yet to get to the postmortem of the whole thing, but initial speculations is that millions of users and businesses lost income, Facebook stock went down by almost 6 points, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg allegedly lost 7 billions in a few hours. here The thing is, this was and will not be the first time such a thing happened to your beloved social media platform of choice. Facebook might be the butt of the joke today, but tomorrow it could be literally any other platform. One day, it could be just an innocent “internal error” (jury’s still out on whether or not this is related to Facebook’s whistle blower testimonial just the day prior) or an actual malicious attack. We all know how sophisticated and advanced these ransomware and cyberattacks are getting. No one’s data is truly safe. Just earlier today, I listened to a Wall Street Journal Podcast episode on how a Russian ransomware allegedly led to the death of a newborn! Scary world out there. My Own Pledge and What You Can Do Here’s a nonexclusive list of what I’ve started doing and will continue to do. I hope you do too. Always save an “offline” record of your online content Periodically download your content on these platforms. Even screenshots as receipts are better than none. Spend some time actually reading the Terms and Conditions of the platform you use (I’m still working on this one), they often sneak in unfavorable clauses at unsuspecting time without you noticing. If you can’t destroy ’em, join ’em. Do not pour all your heart and soul in one single platform. Diversify your digital footage. Think about it like distribution channels. I’ll give you the example of the arguably smartest artist in the music industry at the moment, . When losing the Recording Copyright to 6 of her first albums (which she signed when was still a teenager) but still retaining the Composition Copyright, she cleverly decided to re-record all of them. She started doing so with the album Fearless and just a few days in, the album already climbed to Billboard top 1, like most of her albums usually do, surpassing the original album which she recorded 7 years ago and did not own the recording right to. So, #BeLikeTaylor. Treat all platforms (even HackerNoon) as DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS rather than Center Stage Host. No platform should ever own your content or have exclusive rights to it. You do. Taylor Fucking Swift In the meantime, if you have any tips/ideas on how to download your entire Instagram library and host it elsewhere (yes, I’m still guilty of over-reliance on that one platform 🙄), I’m all ears! Until next time, repeat after me (preferably in the voice of Michael Scott): Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone for any reason ever, no matter what, no matter where, or who, or who you are with, or where you are going, or where you've been... ever, for any reason whatsoever...   HOST YOUR CONTENT EXCLUSIVELY ON ONE SINGLE PLATFORM!!!!! Originally published on my blog . here

Diversify Your Digital Footprint Today!

Ever since Bitcoin hit the scene in 2009, there's been a raging debate going on about the impact that it — and indeed all cryptocurrencies — are having on the environment. That's because crypto mining requires immense computational power, which consumes massive amounts of electricity. At the time of this writing, a single Bitcoin transaction required , which is enough to power the average American home for almost 50 days. And when you consider that about 70% of global energy production comes from non-renewable sources, the implication is clear. Cryptocurrencies are an environmental catastrophe. over 1,400 kWh of electricity But it's also clear that cryptocurrencies aren't going away. And that means something's going to have to change to make crypto mining sustainable. And the answer lies in a combination of carbon offsets, renewable energy mining operations, and a transition away from proof of work. Here's a look at some of the efforts toward those goals and how they'll have to fit together to build a greener future for cryptocurrencies. The Carbon Offset Approach One of the ways some businesses in the crypto ecosystem are trying to minimize the environmental impact of crypto mining is through . This is regarded as the simplest way to solve the problem, mainly because it doesn't require changing anything about how crypto miners operate. In short, it's the practice of paying someone else to reduce their carbon emissions to offset your own. carbon offsets Companies like are building distributed computing infrastructures that use carbon offsets to remain carbon neutral in the crypto arena. Their approach looks to harness unused computational cycles on users' existing hardware to create a massively distributed computing network. And they're not alone. Individual mining operators like Greenidge Generation are also by purchasing offset credits elsewhere. Cudo Ventures going carbon neutral The Move to Renewable Energy Others in the crypto space are going a step further by looking for ways to power their mining operations with renewable energy. This approach can directly impact the CO2 emissions of the crypto industry because it will eliminate them rather than just prevent a net rise in global emissions. But using renewables at a sufficient scale to support primary mining operations is no easy task. Some mining operators, like Atlas Power, are going big on their renewable initiatives. They're in Montana that would power their whole operation (as well as the surrounding community). And others, like , chose to base their mining operations in Iceland to take advantage of plentiful geothermal energy and the naturally cold environment. But locations that have the space for massive solar farms or that happen to have geothermal power resources are limited, which will make it difficult for renewable energy to be a proper near-term solution for greener crypto mining. proposing a 300MW solar farm PEGA Mining Moving Away from Proof of Work Last but not least – the elephant in the room regarding crypto's environmental impact: proof of work, or PoW. Bitcoin and Ethereum's reliance on PoW is the underlying problem that makes crypto mining a resource-intensive process. It's slow, it's cumbersome, and it's expensive. And as long as it exists, there's likely no easy way for the crypto world to go carbon-neutral. Ethereum, to its credit, is moving away from PoW in favor of proof of stake, or PoS, with the release of Ethereum 2.0. The move should cut Ethereum's power consumption once all is said and done. But the truth is that Ethereum's power consumption is already less than a third of Bitcoin's, making their change little more than a drop in the bucket. by at least 99.95% Bitcoin, by contrast, has no current plans to move away from the PoW consensus model. And that means it's going to remain reliant on things like renewable energy and carbon credits to rein in its environmental impacts. But most experts believe that Bitcoin may be in the long run for a few critical reasons. forced to migrate to PoS The first is that it may be the only way to solve Bitcoin's inherent scalability problems. That's what prompted the switch for Ethereum, and once they're done, Bitcoin may have to follow suit just to remain competitive. But the second reason has to do with the economics of mining. As halving continues to make Bitcoin mining less profitable every four years, it will eventually make no sense for miners to keep running their operations. And in the end, only a more efficient system might keep the network viable. The Bottom Line It’s more than likely that we'll see more members of the crypto mining community move towards one of the first two approaches in the near term. They'll do so because there's tremendous social pressure on them to stop contributing to climate change. But they also have a significant financial incentive as well. That's because carbon caps are going into effect worldwide, meaning that miners have little choice but to go renewable or purchase offsets. And although some may try to relocate as a temporary way to evade the caps, they're going to run out of places to hide at some point. Their only alternative would be to cease operations altogether, which seems unlikely given how lucrative crypto mining still is (at scale). But until Bitcoin does away with PoW, it's unlikely that the crypto industry will ever be carbon neutral. There's just too much inefficiency and not enough solutions to overcome it. So when it comes to a green future for crypto, the ball's in Bitcoin's court. And the question for its mining community is a simple one: does it make more sense to wait for costs to skyrocket as carbon caps become the norm or start agitating for a move to PoS now? For the good of the environment, let's hope they choose the latter.

Crypto Going Green and Decreasing Carbon Footprint: An Analysis

Tl;dr: you can go to use the calculator here Proof-of-work blockchains like Ethereum carry a heavy burden-- they consume in order to guarantee the integrity of the network. Such data has recently attracted a lot of for such networks, which in turn is prompting users to question whether participation in such an ecosystem is worth bearing the associated carbon footprint. massive amounts of energy criticism However, despite the common narrative that using a blockchain creates irreversible damage to the environment, -- or even every smart contract operation executed by an application. we can already use these networks to erase the entire footprint of a user’s transactions Building upon the methodology and code written by Kyle McDonald , I’ve created a that will let users and smart contract operators calculate the footprint of an address. here simple calculator On a final note, it’s important to point out that calculating the footprint of an Ethereum user or smart contract is . This is because it’s hard to measure any particular participant’s contribution to the footprint of a decentralized network that runs regardless of whether any activity on the network takes place or not. mostly philosophical Nonetheless, methodologies like these are huge milestones towards proactive and actionable measures to erase the footprint of blockchain activity.

Here's A Calculator To Calculate The Carbon Footprint of Any Ethereum Wallet Or Smart Contract

You've most probably shopped for an item online and then been served up ads for every possible variation of that item for days or weeks thereafter. Obviously, the websites you visit collect the data and use it to target you with advertising. So what information is being collected, and who is actually collecting it? Are there reasons other than ad-targeting for tracking your activities? You will be shocked to find out what information is available about you and how it could potentially be used. In this article, I've discussed some steps you can take to minimize your online profile. The Basics If you submit an online form, whatever you type into it is probably stored by the site. This could include your contact information and credit or debit card data. In addition, websites will typically collect information including your device IP address, your location (revealed by your IP address), what browser you use, the type of device you are using to access the site, how much time you stay on a page, and what you do while you're there, including what items you view or buy. Perhaps much of this data is being collected only to ensure that the pages display properly on your device or to provide you with the best possible experience when using the site. Third-party Tracking Cookies and Fingerprinting First-party tracking gathers information to be used by the site you are visiting, as outlined above. If, however, the site you visit facilitates the dropping of a third-party tracking cookie onto your device, that third-party tracker can, without your knowledge, gather information about your other online activities as well. This is because the cookie will allow its owner continued access to your browsing data from now on. Your device IP address is your online identity. What you do using that IP address allows multiple trackers to attribute to you all the activity and data they gather. This is called fingerprinting. The resulting profile could include your likes and dislikes, interests and hobbies, whether you have children, your religious beliefs, any problems you may be having, what you shop for, and much more, depending on the extent of your online activities. Why You Should Care About Your Online Profile The data collected in the fingerprinting process is the type of information malicious entities use to build more extensive profiles, often including family member identification, your marital status, whether you own your home, where you live, current and previous home addresses, job histories, whether you've been arrested, and even the names of your neighbors. This is the type of data that can be leveraged by cybercriminals to commit and other crimes. Therefore, taking steps to minimize your online profile is recommended. identity theft Ways to Limit the Data Collection and its Availability There are several tools you can use to block trackers. Perhaps one of the simplest changes you can make is to . The Brave private browser, downloadable at brave.com/download/, is available for computers running 64 and 32-bit Windows operating systems, macOS, and Linux. Mobile versions are available as well via Google Play and the App Store. install and use a private browser For example, Brave is free and is configured by default to block trackers and ads. Using encryption, Brave also secures connections to unsecured sites. Tor is another free browser option, but it is slower than Brave and is blocked in some geographical areas; thus, not all sites are accessible when using it. If you don't want to change to a different browser, . These are available for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, iOS, Explorer, and Android browsers. consider using a browser extension to block tracking Another option would be to . A VPN not only secures all of your online traffic using an encrypted tunnel, but it also routes your traffic through a VPN server where your device IP address is replaced by that of the server. Remember that your device's IP is its online identification. Replacing it conceals its true identity. install a Virtual Private Network (VPN) application Installing a VPN is always a good idea because of the added security through encryption, but you should research and read reviews before selecting one. There are free VPN apps, but some are slower because of limited support infrastructure (not enough servers to handle the traffic). Others have been known to actually collect and sell their subscribers' data - just what you were trying to prevent. Once you've implemented your new privacy tools, the next step is to . Fox News, USA Today, Consumer Reports, and others have published articles with step-by-step instructions for deleting your information from people's search sites and opting out of allowing them to continue collecting data about you in the future. Just search how to remove your information from these sites and select a how-to article published by a site you trust. remove as much of your existing online profile data as possible Wrapping Up Not every website tracks your activities or allows the installation of third-party cookies. Some limit their data collection to that which the site needs to provide you with the best service. However, many facilitate creating detailed online profiles of those who visit by sharing the data they collect and allowing third-party cookies to be dropped onto their customers' devices. This practice is widespread. For this reason, new data privacy laws are being discussed or drafted in several countries worldwide. However, considering the length of time required for legislation to be enacted and the abundance of cybercriminals out there who, by definition, will not abide by the law, the best option would be to take it upon yourself to protect your data by minimizing your online profile.

How Can You Minimize Your Online Footprint

Bitcoin energy consumption explained. Elon Musk recently posted a tweet that stated . The narrative that Bitcoin wastes a tremendous amount of energy immediately became a popular headline. Tesla would be ceasing the acceptance of Bitcoin for any purchases Coming from a carbon and energy trading background, I view the narrative as not grounded in reality and, in some way, deeply misinformed. Here’s why. The first thing to remember is that even after the tweet, Elon, Tesla, and SpaceX still hold billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. And they’re not selling it because of this energy narrative. So let’s always stick to what they do, not to what they say. Tesla didn’t sell their Bitcoin. In the tweet, Elon said that “we are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emission of any fuel.” That’s inaccurate. Let me clarify. According to the 76% of miners use renewables in some capacity. The financial incentive for the miners is to build a mining operation on the other side of the planet and find the cheapest form of power generation. Electricity is their most significant cost input. Since coal-fired power plants have a heavy burden to bear in various carbon trading schemes and carbon taxes, the financial incentive for the miners is to adopt renewable power. Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, Bitcoin power consumption explained The world generates of electricity a year. Of that, is wasted. In other words, one-fifth of all electricity produced is surplus production. The Bitcoin network consumes about . And media like to point out that it’s more power consumption than 25,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) 5,000 TWh 150 TWh Argentina. However, in reality, that’s only . On top of that, the 0.6% amounts to about 3% of all the wasted energy. 0.6% of the power produced globally in a year In effect, Bitcoin miners have become crucial clients for power grids to ensure a balanced grid in the day-ahead markets. To put it differently, the grid operators can earn extra income instead of wasting the production. As a result, the 3% percent of all wasted energy gives people in Asia, Africa, and South America a chance to protect their livelihoods against poverty. And even if you eliminated Bitcoin and deprive women and children in Venezuela, Nigeria, or Zimbabwe of decent living, we’d still waste about a third of the electricity generated. China’s changing energy mix China accounts for more than . 65% of the hash rate and is the world’s dominant Bitcoin miner Many argue that miners in China predominantly use coal to mine digital currency. . That’s not accurate either According to the , , Xinjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Inner Mongolia. Xinjian is powered by , and Inner Mongolia recently University of Cambridge four provinces account for about 90% of China’s mining capacity 50% renewable energy, Sichuan with Yunnan are almost 100% hydro-power during the wet season banned bitcoin mining. Moreover, China is rapidly losing its market share to the United States and Canada. This could lead to more renewable energy. Not to mention, as China’s energy mix is changing, Chinese miners are becoming greener as well. Cost of securing Bitcoin network When you study the Bitcoin network, you’ll find that the cost of securing the networks is extremely low. Currently, Bitcoin market capitalization is about one trillion dollars. If we presume the average electricity production cost is at 3 cents per kWh, the total price to secure the network is about . $4.5 billion a year With that in mind, we must remember that the Bitcoin network uses the discarded power that would have gone to waste anyway in many cases. That’s 0.45% of all the assets under management in the Bitcoin network. That is to say, its marginal value to society is zero. In addition, once you wrap your head around the concept of , it becomes clear that the Bitcoin network’s energy consumption is a crucial feature of the network. proof-of-work Understanding proof-of-work in more detail might help shift the perspective from inefficient and wasteful” to “secure and censorship-resistant.” I encourage every critic of energy consumption to review this concept. Is it worth it? Be that as it may, it’s undeniable that Bitcoin mining not only consumes a lot of power but produces CO2 emissions as well. People ask if Bitcoin is even worth it. Although this may sound like a valid argument, people used to question the necessity of trains, cars, and planes not that long ago. For example, in 1999, Forbes claimed that the internet “burns up an awful lot of fossil fuels” and sets the world on a dangerous trajectory of energy usage. Imagine if entrepreneurs, investors, and developers had listened to Forbes and stopped building the internet. If someone figures out a more energy-efficient way to secure it without compromising one of these qualities, we can discuss replacing Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a trillion-dollar, open, decentralized, censorship-resistant monetary network, and over 100 million people put their trust in it. And no, Dogecoin is not the answer. Besides, if Elon Musk is so concerned about coal-fired power production, will he stop selling EVs in China? Or, perhaps will he stop accepting the U.S. dollar as well? What could be the real reason behind Elon’s tweet? Apart from being a carmaker, Tesla is a renewable energy company too. Elon is a phenomenal marketer, and this could be yet another of his clever marketing ploys. According to Anthony Pompliano, the plan could be in “a launching pad for Tesla to start a renewable power mining rig or even a mining equipment.” Anything is possible. Given these points, I don’t want to dispute the power consumption of Bitcoin or compare Bitcoin’s energy usage to the current banking system. I simply want to offer a shift in perspective. Previously published here: https://www.virtuse.com/what-elon-gets-wrong-about-bitcoins-carbon-footprint/

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