Censorship Resistance
Censorship resistance is a core feature of distributed systems like blockchain’s. Ensuring no centralized authority can interfere with users ability to access and conduct transactions on a network.
This extends to preserving immutability of a blockchain’s history. Once validated, on-chain records of transactions are preserved and cannot be removed or altered from it’s ledger.
Censorship resistance also extends to governance of a blockchain’s operations. Rules for accessing the network are predefined and anyone can access the network and operate by following these agreed upon guidelines.
Changing the guidelines requires majority consensus amongst nodes. Who signal their support of revised operating parameters by implementing them and waiting for over half the network to follow. When half the network follows, a soft fork ensues, implementing the agreed upon changes and updating the guidelines for the blockchain’s operation going forward.
Oftentimes failed proposals will lead to a hard fork. Where the nodes supporting the change break off and form a new chain under the updated guidelines. While the original chain continues operating using the existing method.
The Bitcoin block size debate is an example of a failed proposal leading to a hard fork. A segment of nodes wanted to expand Bitcoin’s block size to 8 MB from 1 MB. But a majority of nodes never signaled approval for the change.
The group wanting to expand the block size. Hard forked the original Bitcoin chain to create a new protocol Bitcoin Cash with an 8 MB block size.
The only way to compromise censorship resistance is with a successful 51% attack.
Further Reading Censorship Resistance
Bitcoin’s Censorship-Resistance Was a Step Change in History