Bitcoin enthusiast Christopher Ellis introduced new software to enable anyone creating DIY passport.
Developer Christopher Ellis designed new software that will allow creating a World Citizenship passport. The technology uses the bitcoin blockchain and PGP encryption software to create identification paper. Due to the decentralized technology, it is almost impossible to fake the passport.
Today, developers are actively applying the blockchain and blockchain-like technologies in the new spheres. The new project called Ethereum was created to use a blockchain clone to provide distributed computing resources. In addition, an Overstock.com announced its plans to utilize the blockchain for an online exchange.
Ellis commented: “The goal of this project is to learn and layout a simple process for anyone in the world to create their own Private Passport Service that can be used to validate and prove the existence of other persons using nothing but available tools.
We will prefer open source where available and we will draw on the cryptographic tools like Public Private Key Cryptography (PGP) and blockchain technology in the form of Bitcoin.”
By doing this, we aim to give people across the world the ability to grant one another World Citizenship by virtue of their being witnessed in space and in time. This witnessing can be documented with photography and video, that content can be signed with PGP signatures, hashed and timestamped. It can then be joined with Social Network Validation services like Onename.io & Keybase.io before being plugged in to more dynamic reputation systems.
First and foremost this is a learning exercise to discover whether the currently available open source cryptographic tools are up to the task of a global social network.”
He added: “I wanted to create a voluntary ID system in which my proof of existence could be backed by a social network of my choosing.”
It is unknown whether this type of passport would be accepted by the organizations. However, the World Citizen Passport is an open-source technology that allows governments and other institutions to use the new software free of charge.
“I expect everyone who plays by the rules to reject this out of hand because it doesn’t conform,” Ellis added. Still, he intends to work on the project and develop it into something new. For instance, it could be used as a system for notarizing contracts.
“The real story here is why the governments didn’t invent this sooner,” Ellis said. “I came up with this over a weekend in my spare time, why didn’t they? How long long has PGP been around?”
The security and reliability of the Blockchain can pave the way for new uses of the technology in the future.
Polina is an undergraduate student at Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU) where she is studying at the faculty of International Business Communication for a degree specializing in Intercultural Communication. In her spare time she enjoys drawing, music and travelling.
