Firm Identify: Easy Proof
Founders: Rafael Cordón and Christian Lowenthal
Date Based: February 2023
Location of Headquarters: Guatemala
Quantity of Bitcoin Held in Treasury: N/A
Variety of Workers: 6
Web site: https://www.simpleproof.com/
Public or Personal? Personal
Within the age of digital information, how do we all know that information has not been tampered with? Rafael (Rafa) Cordón has a solution.
In efforts to protect the integrity of actual data — particularly authorities paperwork — he created Easy Proof, an organization that safeguards official information through the Bitcoin blockchain.
Many got here to know the corporate final 12 months when it was employed to forestall fraud in Guatemala’s presidential election. Nevertheless, Easy Proof’s mission is greater than that.
“We uphold the data integrity of public information,” Cordón advised Bitcoin Journal.
“Elections are usually not actually our focus. They have been simply the primary use case. We’re targeted on [safeguarding] public information — data that is being produced by governments,” he added.
So, how precisely does Easy Proof uphold data integrity?
How Easy Proof Works
Easy Proof leverages Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd’s OpenTimestamps protocol, which makes use of hash features to timestamp data onto the immutable blockchain.
Cordón describes the method in layperson’s phrases as such:
“First, we take the hash of the doc, which will be regarded as the digital fingerprint. Each doc has a really distinctive digital fingerprint, which is a string of characters.
Bitcoin transactions have area for arbitrary textual content, which is known as the OP_RETURN perform. That is analogous to while you’re writing a test, there’s a little bit line on the underside proper that claims ‘Memo’ the place you may write arbitrary textual content that reminds you of what this test is for. The OP_RETURN perform will be regarded as a memo area inside a Bitcoin transaction.
Inside this ‘Memo’ area, we embody the hash, the digital fingerprint. This hash is then included within the Bitcoin transaction. When the transaction is revealed, it will get included in a block, after which it is saved immutably. So, you’ve got this digital fingerprint saved inside a Bitcoin block that lives in perpetuity.”
Cordón clarified {that a} hash isn’t included for every particular doc however that the hash in an OP_RETURN is the “root hash” of a Merkle tree, which is a tree of hashes for a number of paperwork.
This fashion, OpenTimestamps can attest to an indefinite quantity of paperwork with a single OP_RETURN entry. Merkle bushes mean you can effectively show {that a} single piece of knowledge was within the tree.
Take into account, although, that Easy Proof doesn’t make sure the authenticity of the info it helps to retailer on the Bitcoin blockchain. This nonetheless falls on the federal government or the physique overseeing –say– an election.
Within the case of the Guatemalan presidential election, virtually 200,000 volunteers and observers from completely different political events watched over the voting course of in efforts to forestall fraud, the main points of that are outlined within the documentary Immutable Democracy:
Who Is Utilizing Easy Proof?
Cordón and his crew are in talks with quite a few completely different authorities officers and personal firms that work with governments who’re serious about using Easy Proof.
“There are two varieties of clients,” defined Cordón. “One is public officers who’re involved about upholding data integrity of their establishments who might get in hassle if data of their establishments is modified with out authorization, and the opposite is expertise distributors who’re employed by governments to generate or course of data who’ve the identical downside of ‘I do not wish to be accused of modifying data.’”
Easy Proof has lately secured a second buyer, the id of which Cordón didn’t disclose. The shopper has been contracted by its authorities to develop an utility for managing public information, in accordance with Cordón.
“They will not be making their Verification Pages publicly accessible,” Cordón mentioned.
“As a substitute, they will retailer their proofs privately, with the choice to disclose them if wanted to authenticate paperwork sooner or later. This strategy serves as a type of digital insurance coverage,” he added.
Cordón believes this strategy of making non-public, verifiable proofs will grow to be more and more vital not only for governments however for different establishments and people, as nicely.
Concerning his work with public officers, Cordón confused one level specifically.
“To ensure that Easy Proof to work, the authorities must need [to use] it,” defined Cordón.
“That was the case in Guatemala. The authorities needed to make use of it as a result of they have been involved of being accused of election fraud,” he added.
Whereas some could have speculated that Easy Proof might have helped forestall voting fraud within the latest Venezuelan presidential election, Cordón disagreed.
“In Venezuela, it’s very probably that the election authorities did not wish to have transparency from the start,” mentioned Cordón.
Easy Proof solely works if our clients need transparency. If they do not need transparency, they don’t seem to be going to need [our service],” he added.
Cordón went on to share that Easy Proof appears to work with officers from established democracies around the globe.
“I’d by no means wish to work with an undemocratic regime,” he shared.
Advancing Easy Proof
Earlier this 12 months, Carlos Toriello (Carliño) joined the Easy Proof crew.
Toriello oversaw a vote audit of the Guatemalan presidential election, the outcomes of which Easy Proof helped shield.
“He did the audit as a citizen, as a part of a civil society motion known as Digital Witness, or Fiscal Digital,” defined Cordón. “Digital Witness was taking the paperwork that have been being revealed by the election officers and verifying them towards Easy Proof to test that they have been genuine.”
Toriello crowdsourced a crew through StakWork, a chore app that permits contributors to earn bitcoin for finishing duties.
1000’s of contributors labored from their telephones to test the information of votes versus what had been recorded to the Bitcoin blockchain through Easy Proof, incomes sats for his or her work.
“Digital Witness confirmed that the election outcomes have been 99% correct,” mentioned Cordón.
Toriello is now working to have Easy Proof protect the integrity of the outcomes of an election in a US county.
He has been reaching out to US-based Bitcoin meetup teams, encouraging them to assist their county make use of Easy Proof in its subsequent elections.
“The meetups are type of competing to see who’s the primary county within the US that implements this,” mentioned Cordón.
As a prize, Easy Proof is prepared to doc the adoption of its expertise within the US through a brief movie, like Immutable Democracy.
“We can assist them doc this in a great way by doing a documentary or sending a movie crew to present them the chance to point out the world that they are the primary individuals to do it,” mentioned Cordón.
Past Easy Proof
Whereas Cordón is pleased to have created a device to assist struggle disinformation, he’s additionally nicely conscious that Easy Proof is only one of many defenses that we are going to want towards it.
“We’re very involved with the way in which that AI instruments are evolving,” mentioned Cordón. “We want issues like Easy Proof with a purpose to shield us towards AI misinformation.”
Cordón additionally talked about that authorities workers must be conscious of how they produce paperwork and believes that digital signatures can play a task in authenticating paperwork as they’re revealed.
“We’re advising governments to at the very least use digital signers like YubiKey,” mentioned Cordón. “So, when any individual scans a doc, the one who controls the YubiKey ought to signal it to provide the signature after which it is included into the blockchain.”
Even with expertise like YubiKey, although, Cordón stays involved.
“[There’s difficulty in] proving who generated data and whether or not this digital data was based mostly on an enter completely from the actual world or whether or not it was based mostly on enter that was already manipulated,” defined Cordón.
“How are we gonna be capable of show that?” he requested with a stern facial features.
“It is an unresolved query that’s going to grow to be essential within the coming 10 years.”
