Firm Title: 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 Non-public? Non-public
Within the age of digital information, how do we all know that knowledge has not been tampered with? Rafael (Rafa) Cordón has a solution.
In efforts to protect the integrity of actual info — particularly authorities paperwork — he created Easy Proof, an organization that safeguards official knowledge through the Bitcoin blockchain.
Many got here to know the corporate final yr when it was employed to stop 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 should not actually our focus. They have been simply the primary use case. We’re centered on [safeguarding] public information — info that is being produced by governments,” he added.
So, how precisely does Easy Proof uphold info integrity?
How Easy Proof Works
Easy Proof leverages Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd’s OpenTimestamps protocol, which makes use of hash capabilities to timestamp info onto the immutable blockchain.
Cordón describes the method in layperson’s phrases as such:
“First, we take the hash of the doc, which could be considered 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 named the OP_RETURN operate. That is analogous to while you’re writing a test, there’s slightly 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 operate could be considered 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 printed, it will get included in a block, after which it is saved immutably. So, you have 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 manner, OpenTimestamps can attest to an indefinite quantity of paperwork with a single OP_RETURN entry. Merkle bushes permit you to effectively show {that a} single piece of information was within the tree.
Take note, although, that Easy Proof doesn’t make sure the authenticity of the information 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, nearly 200,000 volunteers and observers from totally 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 totally different authorities officers and personal corporations that work with governments who’re concerned about using Easy Proof.
“There are two varieties of prospects,” defined Cordón. “One is public officers who’re involved about upholding info integrity of their establishments who may get in bother if info of their establishments is modified with out authorization, and the opposite is know-how distributors who’re employed by governments to generate or course of info who’ve the identical downside of ‘I do not need to be accused of modifying info.’”
Easy Proof has not too long ago secured a second buyer, the identification of which Cordón didn’t disclose. The consumer has been contracted by its authorities to develop an software for managing public information, in keeping with Cordón.
“They will not be making their Verification Pages publicly accessible,” Cordón mentioned.
“As an alternative, they’re going to retailer their proofs privately, with the choice to disclose them if wanted to authenticate paperwork sooner or later. This method serves as a type of digital insurance coverage,” he added.
Cordón believes this method of making non-public, verifiable proofs will change into more and more essential not only for governments however for different establishments and people, as nicely.
Relating to his work with public officers, Cordón careworn 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 wished 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 may have helped stop voting fraud within the current Venezuelan presidential election, Cordón disagreed.
“In Venezuela, it’s very probably that the election authorities did not need to have transparency from the start,” mentioned Cordón.
Easy Proof solely works if our prospects 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 need to work with an undemocratic regime,” he shared.
Advancing Easy Proof
Earlier this yr, 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 printed 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 individuals to earn bitcoin for finishing duties.
1000’s of individuals 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 form 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 know-how within the US through a brief movie, like Immutable Democracy.
“We may help them doc this in a great way by doing a documentary or sending a movie crew to present them the chance to indicate the world that they are the primary folks to do it,” mentioned Cordón.
Past Easy Proof
Whereas Cordón is completely happy to have created a device to assist combat 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 view to shield us towards AI misinformation.”
Cordón additionally talked about that authorities workers must be aware of how they produce paperwork and believes that digital signatures can play a job in authenticating paperwork as they’re printed.
“We’re advising governments to at the very least use digital signers like YubiKey,” mentioned Cordón. “So, when any person scans a doc, the one that controls the YubiKey ought to signal it to supply the signature after which it is included into the blockchain.”
Even with know-how like YubiKey, although, Cordón stays involved.
“[There’s difficulty in] proving who generated info and whether or not this digital info was primarily based on an enter solely from the actual world or whether or not it was primarily based on enter that was already manipulated,” defined Cordón.
“How are we gonna be capable to show that?” he requested with a stern facial features.
“It is an unresolved query that’s going to change into crucial within the coming 10 years.”