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Once a smart contract is out there on the blockchain, it can't be removed, it can only self-destruct. A smart contract can store around 1.49 GB of data (source: Is there a (theoretical) limit for amount of data that a contract can store?)

So what would happen if somebody deployed a smart contract, which contains some illegal material? e.g. copyright infringement or worse?

How would it be possible to remove that? Is there no danger that the ETH blockchain would be fully loaded with undeletable illegal material?

I'm more into the theoretical side. Maybe not 1.49 GB but a few images. Images from somebody without consent etc. Impossible to remove, censor.

Edit: someone, apparently without reading the question and trying to understand it, closed this as being a duplicate of the following questions:

Adam Szabo
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  • Welcome to the Ethereum Stack Exchange! I think close enough duplicate, and see storage questions like https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/444/is-there-anything-stopping-me-from-using-the-ethereum-blockchain-as-data-storage – eth May 25 '17 at 01:17
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    @eth I don't feel like the answers to any of those questions that this has been marked as a duplicate to is an answer to this one. There's a difference between an illegal program/smart contract and illegal copyrighted data. The answer to who can be sued (everyone who is storing and redistributing the data) is very different. – Hjulle Oct 01 '22 at 10:15
  • Can I please ask not to close the question without even reading it and trying to understand what it is about, just to score some moderation points? Sincerely appreciated. – Adam Szabo Oct 03 '22 at 11:11
  • @Hjulle The question might not be the same, but the answer applies to both smart contracts and content. That question is still open and new answers could be added there. Obviously everything blockchain is "new" and the situation might change when new laws and cases are introduced. – Ismael Oct 03 '22 at 16:42
  • @Ismael The answer to that question is an excellent and complete answer to that narrowly well-defined question, which is significantly different from this narrowly well-defined question. I don't think answering this one on that question would add much there. This one is about copyright and illegal storage, while that one is about pyramid schemes and illegal code/schemes/contracts. Those are mostly unrelated. – Hjulle Oct 04 '22 at 09:51
  • @Ismael As far as I know, the legal situation around illegal storage on the blockchain is very clear. It is covered by e.g. DMCA and everyone who redistributes it has a responsibility. I interpret this question to be more about what can be done to mitigate the situation. – Hjulle Oct 04 '22 at 10:00
  • @Ismael oh, actually, I found this question which was a much closer match. It was opened specifically because this question was incorrectly marked as a duplicate, so a resolution could be to change this to be marked as a duplicate of that instead of what it's currently marked as duplicate of. – Hjulle Oct 04 '22 at 10:30
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    @Hjulle and Adam Part of the reason why this question is closed is because it is a poor fit for stackexchange. https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask "You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face." Perhaps Reddit is more suitable for "more into the theoretical side" questions like this. Maybe this might help https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/14056/ramifications-of-illegal-content-in-transaction-messages since Bitcoin has faced it in a 2018 comment and has anything happened? – eth Oct 05 '22 at 06:34

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