We live in a time in which one is concerned like never before about identity. The fear that our personal data will be need of far-away third miss, is large, while these data for us in a time in which our identities and the politics of identity, we operate on around them, are becoming more and more important. In this context, the Blockchain technology. Your application beyond the crypto-currencies is still limited, but the reinforcement of the protection of our Online identities and data seems to be one of its most Central applications.
In its simplest Form, the use of the Blockchain in the area of personal data protection is simple: Our data is stored in encrypted Form in a decentralized network, and we may grant other parties through the use of our private key access to (some of) these data. To send as much as we use our key allows the Cryptocurrency to someone else. On the basis of this basic framework, the Blockchain technology promises to put control of our data back into our hands. At a time, in the Facebook and other technology giants have heavily abusing. And since crypto-giants like Coinbase recently entered the field of decentralised ID, it seems that these already enjoy a very strong support within the crypto currency industry.
so solid that everything in the theory is also, there are a variety of challenges – on the one hand technical, and on the other hand, commercial – apply it to master, before the block chains for the protection of personal data can be used. The companies that are active in this area, approach these problems with different approaches, but it seems that in the solution of a (partial) departure from the Ideal of the „complete“ decentralisation is necessary.
And even if the technical challenges are overcome, will provide the weaning of the people from platforms like Facebook, which can afford – thanks to the advantages of centralization – the General Public, and enticing, „free“ and sophisticated Service, be a Problem.
control and data protection
Alastair Johnson, the CEO and founder of E-Commerce and ID platform, Nuggets, knows the case of the storage of huge ID-volumes of data in centralised Silos pitfalls only too well.
„Today it is not so that the people control their personal data. On average, a Person is personal data – in the Form of payment card data, home addresses, E-Mail addresses, passwords and other personal data, which are spread over approximately 100 accounts Online. These people are able to access this data, but they do not belong to you.“
In contrast, the use of Blockchain technology gives the user a new type of control. He receives the Power, his ID data only to the parties, in which he would like to. This is achieved primarily through the use of „remote identifiers“ (DIDs), as the Sovrin Foundation explains. The Foundation is building a Blockchain-a platform that the Individual is a „self-sovereign identity“ (i.e., provides a ID, he can from platform to platform to take). As you explained in your paper, encrypt „local identifiers“ (DIDs), not only the information someone than female, Asian, 35, and France to identify live, but they also circumvent the need for a centralised body to Check IDs.
„is stored as A DID in a Blockchain with a DID document that contains the public key for the DID, all the other public data that would disclose the identity of the holder, and the network addresses for the interaction. The identity owner controls the DID document, by control of the associated private key.“
that is, it is created a Protocol for a suitable Blockchain, users register their ID-data on the Blockchain and decode the data for selected parties with their private keys. This System is also used by the Nuggets, it is in the case, however, as a „Zero-knowledge storage is referred to, since no one else knows what is in their data about you. And such a System also Coinbase works. The stock market has on 15. August announced their Acquisition of ID-focused Start-ups, Distributed Systems. After the company was acquired from San Francisco for an undisclosed price, it will now develop a decentralized login system for their own crypto-exchange platform that allows users to keep their ID credentials.
„A decentralized identity allows you to prove that you have an identity, or that you have a relationship with the social insurance authority, without having to make a copy of this identity,“ it said in its press release.
In the case of such a System is the Chance that there is a scandal in the style of Cambridge Analytica, in the case of the data with undesirable groups or individuals to be shared, is very low. At the same time a example, gives the user lots of Power, is likely to be treated by companies with much more respect, since his data are now a rare thing. As Johnson said, it provides an enormous improvement in comparison to the current state of things.
„Personal data will be stored in a number of Central databases and controlled, controlled by institutions such as retailers, marketing companies, utility companies, and data reporting company. To make Online purchases, permit the individuals of these different Places simply to connect the various information that you own, with each other, in order to allow a transaction.“
However, while the individual user is currently instructed on hundreds of different companies to store their data, and to transmit, in order to obtain access to the services, returns, the introduction of the Blockchain technology, this makes the ratio completely around. Johnson told Cointelegraph:
„Blockchain-based solutions put this model on its head, so that people can save their data and control, are associated with a digital identity. It is not stored in Central databases, third-party, but can be stored in a decentralized network on the Blockchain. If the Individual controls his data in this way, has he has nothing to share control and must, in the ideal case, with the help of certificates, tokens, or references, or save. He can share it only if he so wishes.“
however, This is only the tip of the iceberg, because the use of Blockchain technology to confirm who we are, brings many additional benefits over and above the control for the user. The enhanced privacy, since many of the proposed platforms our ID will not be passed login information to the parties and organizations that need your Review.
The is Know by the use of Zero-Proofs (ZKPs). This is a cryptographic method that can prove a claim, without the data („Knowledge“), the claim is proven, actually. ZKPs are implemented by Sovrin, and are also available for Start-ups such as Civic, Verif-y and block-pass on the Plan. Through the use of these, the company will make the process of ID verification easier and more efficient and at the same time open up the possibility to store biometric IDs in the Blockchain. You can save organisations, to verify our IDs, the hassle of personal data after the validation, sure save, which, in turn, eliminates a potential vulnerability, as these organizations would normally have stored all of the data that you have received in a Central database.
And while not all of the decentralized identity platforms ZKPs will use, others will still need to use similar working methods. For example, SelfKey uses a technique referred to the company as a „data minimization“. This enables „the identity of the owner, to provide as little information as possible available to the relying party or the Verified satisfied“. This bypasses the need to develop advanced technologies such as ZKPs, however, raises the question of what is meant by „minimal“. SelfKey writes that „one may admit claims sign and decide, only a Minimum of information“. But without a more formal specification of „Minimum“ and „decide“, it is conceivable that such functional approximations of ZKPs at the end of more data, as some users actually want.
security
Apart from the fact that they offer the user more control and privacy, Blockchain-based platforms for the verification of IDs to be safer than their centralized counterparts. This is due to the fact that they wear when they are distributed on multiple nodes, no damage through a single point of failure, such as a conventional ID systems- for example, government databases and social networks. So one or two nodes of a Blockchain can be inactive and the user can continue to use, while encryption prevents from publicly available data sensitive data to be collected.
Due to the fact that there is no single point of failure, decentralized ID platforms is a great Hack, as it at Yahoo! gave, almost impossible. Instead of a Central database to enter all user information is stored in a single place, must attacker to get the private key of each approach, which in practice is extremely unlikely. Alastair Johnson agrees:
„The main advantage of a decentralised Ledger of personal data to a Central database is the security from hackers. We have all heard of the major data hacks that have taken place in the last few years. For example, in the case of Equifax in the year 2017. These centralized databases act as magnets for hackers, who often exploit only a single vulnerability to take you either down to, or data from them to pull out.“
In contrast, are decentralized Ledger, so prone to cyber attacks. „The capers of a single node does not disturb the current operation of the Ledger, since the other node can work without the participation of the compromised node and the network requires a consensus in order to confirm the blocks.“
security is the reason, why the Indian government is transferred, for example, in the case of your AADHAAR database to the Blockchain. The database is the largest biometric ID System in the world and contains the data of over a billion people. The reason for the Transition is that the country has become in the past year, victims of repeated Hacks.
With such a revised platform has a variety of safety advantages. The transparency and immutability of the Blockchain would mean that the user can see when, and by whom their data has been accessed. Potential Hacker will be deterred. Similarly, this transparency and immutability can be violated only in the unlikely event that a malicious actor takes control of 51% of the Blockchain-nodes, which would allow him, theoretically, to access data and to then delete the corresponding records of this illegal access.
AADHAAR is currently based not on the Blockchain, while a comparison Blockchain project of the government in Dubai for use-based ID at the international airport, which is still in development. A government-run ID System, the uses of Distributed Ledger technology (DLT), there are currently in Estonia. The KSI (Keyless Signature Infrastructure) Blockchain in the country, the backbone of various E-services, including E-medical records system, E-prescription database, E-laws and E-court systems, E-police, E-Banking, E-business register and E-land register.
here, Too, the use of the KSI Blockchain offers more transparency than previous systems, since it detects when user data was accessed and when they were changed. And as the frequently asked questions in e-explain Estonia, it is much faster than traditional platforms in the detection of data abuse:
„It will take around seven months, until firm to detect violations and manipulation of electronic data. With Blockchain-solutions used in Estonia, can be detected these violations and manipulations immediately.“
Not only is that an infringement on a Blockchain-based ID System can immediately or quickly detected, you will be recognized with a higher probability faster than on a Central platform. The reason for this is that you have to go through your public and through accessg can be checked from a wide range of Amateur experts and professionals, such as the PolySwarm-CTO, Paul Makovsky in a blog post from December about distributed threat detection has highlighted:
„security experts from around the world, familiar with Reverse Engineering, or are able to provide unique insights, may want to work your Knowledge from the comfort of home or wherever (and whenever) you.
standardization, interoperability
In today’s time are separated, the digital identity systems in the world from each other so that one is forced to create new accounts and new data for virtually any digital service you use. The result is that personal data proliferate in a dangerous degree, what breaches of Data and cyber-crime much more likely. The financial damage caused by identity theft in the United States alone between 2011 and 2017, for example, came to 106 billion U.S. dollars (91 billion euros). At a time in which the average consumer has a dizzying number of 118 Online accounts (at least in the United Kingdom, where there was data).
A way out of this Blockchain-based digital ID systems. While most of the Chains are currently cut off from each other, are developed from the Digital Identity Foundation (DIF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Standards for a sovereign digital identity. Similarly, a number of Start-ups, interoperability platforms, which have separate block chains connect with each other, including polka dot, Cosmos, and Aion developed. By working on a Ecosystem in which the Standards of an identity platform for all other platforms, the require ID verification, be accepted, could reduce such organizations, the amount of personal data, the need to produce people, drastically. Instead, users would create an account in a Blockchain-based ID service, you then register with a variety of other services and systems.
The CEO of Never Stop Marketing’s Jeremy Epstein wrote in a Blog in December:
„interoperability standards, release capital and time to increase in value. In addition, the offers the opportunity to combine the security (in which case the entire System is more robust against attacks), and to enable trust-free transactions on Chains.“
The Blockchain interoperability is still in its infancy and different organisations have different approaches. To give an example: polka dot aims for interoperability on its „heterogeneous Multi-Chain“, which consists of three main components. The „para-chains“, i.e., the individual block chains, which are connected to each other, „bridges“, each of which para chain to connect with the Polkadot network, and then the Polkadot network itself, which is a „Relay Chain“ of the various related para-chains.
Other ways to interoperability differ from this System. Cosmos wants to reach, for example, by the use of the tender mint-consensus-algorithm, the communication between the Chains and the Aion network wants to monetize Interchain transactions. However, it is expected that an interoperability platform within the Blockchain Ecosystem, a universal acceptance of the need to register users that their personal data only once. From there, you can give the other platforms a safe and quick ID-certificates, without having your data to the companies and services.
scaling in the direction of a new kind of Blockchain
The advantages of Blockchain-based ID systems, control, security and standardization – are tempting, but, nevertheless, the question of how feasible such systems are and how long we have to wait until they are fully functional. Add to that the concern that we are bound as a society – with all the improvements offered by block – chains-are still at the „traditional“ Online services and the organizations responsible for them, the fight back actively against the introduction of decentralized platforms that enable us to retain data for us.
, It is not surprising that the biggest Problem in terms of the feasibility, the scalability, the tendon is so often the Achilles heel of many crypto-based projects. Since an ID must be able to operate the service, by Definition, millions of people, must be a Blockchain, which forms the basis of such a service is very scalable. But so far, the most popular Blockchain for decentralized applications (DApps), which was Ethereum – a popular video game called crypto kitties last year, nearly plunged. Therefore, most of the above platforms are not based on one of the most well-known block chains, but on proprietary ledgers, which do not correspond to part of the traditional Definition of a decentralized Blockc.
Enigma is an example of „distributed computation platform“, which was designed, among other things, for the identity verification. As stated in the white paper of the platform, solves the scalability problem by offloading all of the „intense calculations on an Off-Chain network“. This network also stores all user data, while the Blockchain itself only stores references to this data. With other words: the platform of Enigma is not really a Blockchain. Your Off-Chain network is distributed still (although each node sees the individual parts of the total data), however, this is not a devolution in the way it is, for example, in the case of the Bitcoin Blockchain.
Similar could be the Ledger of the other „Blockchain-based“ ID-platforms say: Estonia KSI Blockchain is not a full-fledged Blockchain, the asymmetric key cryptography used, but a Merkle-tree-based. However, the Sovrin network reaches a consensus on a limited number of „validators node“, which means that it is decentralised, likely to be less than certain other block chains. Together, such trade-offs show that a platform needs to be distributed if they are to be scalable (and also private), in certain areas less and less safe. But even more important is that you do not need to be from a practical point of view, and adjusts the definition of what a „Blockchain“ is, as the most well-known Chains are currently able to secure our personal data on a large scale and to communicate.
My interests
for this reason, even the progress to have the most Probjects Roadmaps that go beyond the year 2020 as a feasible ID-platform requires a new type of Distributed Ledger, which brings the need for cryptographic transparency with the need for individual privacy in accordance. And even if one of the above platforms should reach this goal soon, you will be another large hurdle: the dominance of the existing identity-lords, including Social Media giants like Facebook, as well as the national governments.
government initiatives
The governments of the United Kingdom and Australia, for example, have in recent years invested millions in building their own Central ID-verification systems. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will find it difficult to accept a decentralized Alternative. Similarly, the idea of the Revision of Facebook with a truly decentralized platform on which users keep their personal data secret is, frankly, unthinkable, when you consider that the social network generated through the sale of our data to the highest bidder yearly profits in the billions. The platform is also used widely used to find people online, therefore, it is unlikely that they will give up their domination, in order to make Blockchain-based platforms space.
However, a few national and state governments (for example, Singapore and Illinois) Blockchain have tested-based ID systems. In addition, the Figures for the emerging crypto-ID industry, in the hope that public and private organizations will be forced either to decentralization or on the track.
„If you are running a Central System that your organization Alastair Johnson says the control is and allows you to benefit from this Position, it is understandable that they will resist changes more“,. „But if there is a penalty of this, if this information is violated, for example in the Form of fines, a decrease in the stock price and the costs for the reparation of the Situation and of all the PR damage associated with an injury, will see the company slowly, that the model must be fundamentally changed.“
A key driver for this change could be the public mood has changed in the Wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal already. „The Blockchain provides clear advantages for customers in terms of control over personal data and digital identities, and I expect that the public recognition of this fact, will develop in the near future, of an early group of users to the early majority,“ says Johnson. „From the other side, I expect that organizations that have already experienced injuries in their centralized databases, are among those who are most willing to accept Blockchain-based solutions, as they try to regain the trust of consumers“.
You could argue that smooth, free, ad-supported services such as Facebook for the average user will always be more attractive – a view that is reinforced by the fact that Facebook reported in April an increase in the number of users by 13 percent compared to the previous year. Despite the recent loss of younger users as a result of the above-mentioned data scandal. Johnson believes, however, that a gradual change is underway.
„The ‚Facebook delete’movement is one of the signals for the change, as well as the constant Verifications that must be provided by the Tech giant of the American and European authorities to endure. The people slowly realize that their personal data are valuable. The Blockchain could not only help you to monetize this for yourself, you will also eliminate the type of costly losses of personal data, which I have experienced myself.“
And also if the Blockchain technology outside of the crypto-currencies is still untested largely, it will prevail, as their Superiority over previous systems in terms of privacy and security. „At the Moment, you might hesitate to accept decentralized platforms, but common sense says that personal information in the possession and under the control of the Person should be, and therefore you will prevail.“