Firm Title: easy proof
founder: Raphael Corton and Christian Lowenthal
Date of multinational: February 2023
headquarter deal with: Guatemala
Variety of Bitcoins held by the Treasury: not relevant
Variety of lively staff: 6
web site: https://www.simpleproof.com/
Public or personal? personal
Within the age of digital recording, how do we all know that information has not been tampered with? Rafael Cordón has the reply.
To guard the integrity of genuine info, particularly authorities paperwork, he based Easy Proof, an organization that protects official info by way of the Bitcoin blockchain.
Many individuals had been launched to the corporate final 12 months when it was employed to forestall fraud in Guatemala’s presidential election. Nevertheless, the mission of straightforward proof goes a lot additional than that.
“We keep the data integrity of public data,” Corden instructed Bitcoin Journal.
“Elections should not actually our focus. They’re simply the primary use case. We deal with [safeguarding] Public data — government-generated info,” he added.
So, how does a easy proof keep info integrity?
Easy proof of the way it works
Easy Proof leverages Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd’s OpenTimestamps protocol, which makes use of hash capabilities to timestamp info onto an immutable blockchain.
Cordón describes the method in layman’s phrases:
“First, we get the hash worth of the file, which may be regarded as a digital fingerprint. Each file has a really distinctive digital fingerprint, which is a string of characters.
Bitcoin transactions have room for arbitrary textual content, known as the OP_RETURN operate. That is much like once you write a examine and there’s a little line within the decrease proper nook that claims “Memo” the place you may write any textual content to remind you what the examine is for. The OP_RETURN operate may be regarded as the memo area in Bitcoin transactions.
On this “memo” area, we embody hash values, that are digital fingerprints. This hash will then be included in Bitcoin transactions. When a transaction is revealed, it’s included in a block after which saved immutably. Due to this fact, you may retailer this digital fingerprint in a Bitcoin block that exists without end.
Cordón clarified that the hash worth for every particular doc just isn’t included, however that the hash worth in OP_RETURN is the “root hash worth” of a Merkle tree, which is a tree of hash values for a number of paperwork.
This manner, OpenTimestamps can show an infinite variety of paperwork with a single OP_RETURN entry. Merkle timber let you effectively show the existence of a single merchandise within the tree.
However needless to say easy proof doesn’t make sure the authenticity of the data it helps retailer on the Bitcoin blockchain. It nonetheless is determined by the federal government or the company overseeing the election.
Within the case of Guatemala’s presidential election, practically 200,000 volunteers and observers from completely different political events monitored the voting course of to forestall fraud, particulars of that are outlined within the documentary unchanging democracy:
Who makes use of easy proofs?
Cordón and his group are in talks with various completely different authorities officers, in addition to personal corporations working with governments fascinated with utilizing easy proofs.
“There are two sorts of prospects,” Corden explains. “One is a public official who is worried about sustaining the integrity of data inside an company, who could get into bother if info inside the company is modified with out authorization; the opposite is a know-how vendor employed by the federal government to generate or course of info who has the identical message. ‘I do not need to be accused of altering info.
Easy Proof just lately acquired a second buyer, whose id Cordón didn’t disclose. In accordance with Cordón, the consumer has been contracted by the federal government to develop an utility for managing public data.
“They do not make their verification web page public,” Corden mentioned.
“As an alternative, they retailer the proof privately, with the choice to reveal it sooner or later when paperwork have to be verified. This method can function a type of digital insurance coverage,” he added.
Cordón believes that this technique of making personal, verifiable proof will develop into more and more essential not solely to governments but in addition to different establishments and people.
Colden made one level specifically about working with public officers.
“For easy proof to work, the authorities should need [to use] It,” Colden defined.
“That is the case in Guatemala. The authorities need to use it as a result of they concern being accused of electoral fraud,” he added.
Whereas some could speculate that easy certification could have helped stop voting fraud within the latest Venezuelan presidential election, Corden disagrees.
“In Venezuela, the electoral authorities most likely didn’t need transparency from the start,” Corden mentioned.
Easy proofs solely work if our prospects need transparency. If they do not need transparency, they will not [our service],” he added.
Corden went on to say that Easy Proof hopes to work with officers in established democracies around the globe.
“I’d by no means need to work with an undemocratic regime,” he shared.
Advancing easy proofs
Earlier this 12 months, Carlos Toriello (Carliño) joined the Easy Proof group.
Toriello oversaw a vote audit in Guatemala’s presidential election, and easy certification helped shield the audit’s outcomes.
“He performed the audit as a citizen as a part of a civil society motion known as Digital Witness or Fiscal Numbers,” Corden defined. “Digital Witness is taking paperwork issued by election officers and verifying them in opposition to easy certificates to examine whether or not they’re genuine.”
Toriello crowdsourced a group by way of StakWork, a chore app that enables individuals to earn Bitcoin for finishing duties.
Hundreds of individuals checked voting data by way of their telephones and recorded content material on the Bitcoin blockchain by way of easy proofs, and earned SATs for his or her work.
“Digital Witness confirmed the election outcomes with 99 p.c accuracy,” Cordón mentioned.
Toriello is presently working to get Easy Proof to protect the integrity of election leads to a U.S. county.
He has been contacting Bitcoin meetup teams in america to encourage them to assist their counties use easy proof within the subsequent election.
“These gatherings are type of a contest to be the primary county in america to implement this measure,” Corden mentioned.
As a bonus, Easy Proof is keen to doc the adoption of its know-how within the U.S. by way of brief movies, e.g. unchanging democracy.
“We will help them doc this in a great way by making a documentary or sending a digital camera crew to offer them an opportunity to point out the world that they had been the primary to do that,” Corden mentioned.
Past easy proof
Whereas Cordón is happy to have created a instrument to assist fight disinformation, he’s additionally clear that easy proof is barely one of many many defenses we have to fight disinformation.
“We’re very involved about how AI instruments are being developed,” Cordón mentioned. “We’d like issues like easy proofs to guard us from AI misinformation.”
Corden additionally talked about that authorities staff have to be cautious about how they produce paperwork and belief digital signatures to authenticate paperwork when they’re launched.
“We suggest that governments at the very least use digital signers similar to YubiKey,” Cordón mentioned. “So when somebody scans a file, the particular person controlling the YubiKey ought to signal it to generate a signature that’s then included within the blockchain.”
However even with know-how like YubiKey, Cordón nonetheless worries.
“[There’s difficulty in] Show who generated the data and whether or not the digital info relies completely on real-world enter or whether it is primarily based on enter that has been manipulated,” Cordón explains.
“How can we show this?” he requested critically.
“That is an unsolved drawback however will develop into crucial within the subsequent 10 years.”
