Taking Control of Digital You (Part IV)
Blockchain networks are distributed ledgers that stores digital records of transactions on a trustless network. No centralized authority exists in a blockchain ecosystem, and transactions are committed through its consensus protocol. When you hear the term mining, it is those decentralized nodes on a network that are doing the work for a given consensus protocol. For the Bitcoin network, it uses a consensus protocol called proof of work. Proof of work is the main innovation introduced by the father of blockchain Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” (Nakamoto, n.d.). It is also very secure. For example, to hack a single record on the Bitcoin network, you would have to launch a coordinated attack on all of the nodes in the system and change them before the combined compute of the system recognized that there were different hash entries for a transaction (Orcutt, 2018).
“The final security element is that the hashes serve as links in the blockchain: each block includes the previous block’s unique hash. So if you want to change an entry to the ledger retroactively, you have to calculate a new hash not only for the block it is in but also for every subsequent block” (Orcutt, 2018).
Each blockchain network uses a different consensus protocol. Ethereum uses proof of stake and EOS uses delegated proof of stake. Each consensus protocol has strengths and weaknesses, but core to all of them is the trust capability of a distributed ledger in a trustless network.
For example, in Figure 1 below, imagine you walk into your doctor’s office for a yearly checkup. The hospitals IT systems recognize that you have stepped into the building. The hospital system asks how it may help you. You reply that you are a patient. It requests your necessary identifying information such as your first name and last name. However, before it can direct you to your scheduled appointment, the system needs to validate you are who you say you are, so it requests a blockchain identity check. Assuming that the reply from the blockchain identity store affirms it is you, the hospital system will match you with an appointment and direct you where to go. On your way to the waiting area, the system politely asks you for your healthcare records. It is up to you to accept or not. At no time will hospitals store your information. They can make use of your healthcare record per your directives but at no time can they save any of your data. Assuming you want to share your records, you share that information with the hospital systems, and it links directly to your healthcare record on the blockchain. You visit the doctor, and they sign off on you being healthy. The doctor’s entries as well as your basic vitals, taken by the nurse, are stored in your healthcare record on the blockchain ID. As you exit, the hospital system thanks you for your visit and mediates payment via your insurance services information on your blockchain ID. You can rest assured that nobody will use your information without your consent. Once trust in an identity is established, “you can keep certified copies of identity documents, biometric test results, health data, or academic and training certificates online, available at all times, yet safe unless you give away your key” (Mainelli, 2017).
Through examining the pioneering work kicked off by Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” personal identity pioneers can partner with local governments to leverage the power of blockchain to develop systems of trust and develop supporting legislation that places identity back in your hands. Too long, have companies such as Marriott, Yahoo and Expedia put people at the mercy of hackers with little to no consequence. While the technology is still immature, it is imperative to regain control over our identities. Fortunately, there are technologists, business leaders, academics, and government officials who are contributing to projects like this on GitHub and around the world today.
In the coming months, I will be developing posts around the history of privacy in the US, the Patriot act, a framework for what “should” be in every digital bill of rights.
References
Birch, D. (2014). IDENTITY is the NEW MONEY. London Publishing Partnership.
Brewster, T. (2018, December 3). Revealed: Marriott’s 500 Million Hack Came After A String Of Security Breaches. Retrieved December 3, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/12/03/revealed-marriotts-500-million-hack-came-after-a-string-of-security-breaches/
Byrnes, N. (2015, June 2). EmTech Digital: Reaching Maximum Invasiveness. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/538016/emtech-digital-worrying-about-privacy-and-security/
Casey, M. J. (2018, April 9). In blockchain we trust. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610781/in-blockchain-we-trust/
Davidson, R. (2018). Sponsored Feature: Centralized, Model-Driven Visibility Key to IT-OT Security Management, 2. Retrieved from https://www.isaca.org/Journal/archives/2018/Volume-2/Pages/centralized-model-driven-visibility-key-to-it-ot-security-management.aspx
Downes, L. (2018, April 9). GDPR and the End of the Internet’s Grand Bargain. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/04/gdpr-and-the-end-of-the-internets-grand-bargain
Guide to Identifying Personally Identifiable Information (PII). (2017, February 14). Retrieved December 6, 2018, from https://www.technology.pitt.edu/help-desk/how-to-documents/guide-identifying-personally-identifiable-information-pii
Larson, S. (2017, October 3). Every single Yahoo account was hacked – 3 billion in all. Retrieved December 4, 2018, from https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/03/technology/business/yahoo-breach-3-billion-accounts/index.html
Lieber, R. (2017, December 22). Why the Equifax Breach Stings So Bad. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/your-money/equifax-breach.html
Mainelli, M. (2017, October 5). Blockchain Could Help Us Reclaim Control of Our Personal Data. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/10/smart-ledgers-can-help-us-reclaim-control-of-our-personal-data
Nakamoto, S. (n.d.). Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, 9.
Orcutt, M. (2018, April 25). How secure is blockchain really? Retrieved December 6, 2018, from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610836/how-secure-is-blockchain-really/
Skowronski, J. (2015, July 27). The Black Market Value Of Your Identity. Retrieved December 3, 2018, from https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit/what-your-identity-is-worth-on-black-market.aspx
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