Amber Baldet — Decentralized, Private, Open, Secure: Building a More Ethical Internet (Turing Fest 2018)

Blockchain technology has been heralded as the cure for all that ails us, but is it really? In this frank discussion, we'll look at what the Internet of Information has managed to get right and wrong as it evolved into ubiquitous substrate for big business and human connectivity, and why we might need to approach things differently to build an Internet of Value — inclusive of both cryptocurrency and distributed data — that supports tomorrow's global economies, sovereign governments, and individual human rights.

Transcript

1. | Decentralized, private, open, secure Building a more ethical internet AmberBaldet GrowClovyr
2. | hi! Currently: § Co-founder & CEO, Clovyr § Board, Zcash Foundation Previously: § Blockchain Program Lead, JPMorgan § Chair, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Financial Industry Working Group @AmberBaldet
3. | Technical choices have human impact Human Experience Human Effort Human Rights Decentralized, private, open, interoperable, accessible, secure, & sustainable Functional, convenient, & reliable Delightful Respect Source: ind.ie
4. | Decentralized Lack of a central administrative authority |
5. | Decentralized Lack of a central administrative authority Distributed systems Independent computers working together |
6. | Private Free from intrusion into confidential matters |
7. | Private Free from intrusion into confidential matters Anonymous Unable to link actions to alternate identities |
8. | Open [access] Low barriers to entry, easy to interoperate |
9. | Open [access] Low barriers to entry, easy to interoperate | Ability to view / modify / redistribute source code Open [source]
10. | Secure Resistant to undesired outcomes |
11. | Secure Resistant to undesired outcomes Usable Functional, accessible, intuitive, pleasant |
12. | “As we start to see things, like autonomous vehicles, that clearly have the ability to save people but also cause harm, I think that people are scrambling to build a system of ethics.” -Joi Ito Director, M.I.T. Media Lab NYTimes 2018 |
13. | Data collection Why are you collecting that GPS data? Is it accessible via API? Is historical data accessible (but buried) somewhere within the app? Is it sold to third parties?
14. | Data collection User experience Why do you want to collect a user’s gender identity? What choices are offered? How does the UX change based on selection? Are there restrictions on updating (e.g. show ID)? Why are you collecting that GPS data? Is it accessible via API? Is historical data accessible (but buried) somewhere within the app? Is it sold to third parties?
15. | Data collection User experience Default settings Why are you requiring user action to opt-in to a privacy feature? Who is notified when a setting is changed? Why do you want to collect a user’s gender identity? What choices are offered? How does the UX change based on selection? Are there restrictions on updating (e.g. show ID)? Why are you collecting that GPS data? Is it accessible via API? Is historical data accessible (but buried) somewhere within the app? Is it sold to third parties?
16. | A quick show of hands
17. | So, how did we get here?
18. | ARPANET 1969
19. | ARPANET 1970
20. | ARPANET 1973
21. | ARPANET 1982
22. | The Internet 1984
23. | Usenet traffic 1993
24. | Internet Backbone Privatization, 1994
25. |
26. |
27. | Walled gardens & Elysian fields XMPP RSS Feb 2018 YoY weekly referral traffic (billions of pageviews)
28. |
29. | Privacy is easy, just use a bunch of different tools correctly, all the time
30. | Lots of people care about the open internet & digital freedom epic.org eff.org openprivacy.ca z.cash.foundation hrf.org torproject.org freedom.press cdt.org signal.foundation
31. | Freedom == Ethical == Good Guys, right? Right??? |
32. | Apple FBI Hackers Repressive Regimes Etc. Source: carlsontoons.com Strong encryption matters. A lot.
33. |
34. | Problem: Sometimes important stuff disappears from the web
35. | Problem: Sometimes terrible stuff won’t disappear from the web
36. | Information wants to be free!
37. | Information wants to be free! Privacy is a human right!
38. | Global Bitcoin node distribution a/o 2018-07-31 Source: bitnodes.earn.com
39. |
40. |
41. | Every tool is a weapon, if you hold it right. -Ani Difranco
42. | Tradeoffs Enforcement Privacy Abuse Anonymity Responsibility for content Freedom Data protection Data portability User protection User choice Local law Human rights Credit: Alex Stamos
43. | Here are some promising tools
44. | Mesh networking § Primary internet access for mobile-first communities § Failover internet access in disaster situations § Cheaper municipal wifi § Censorship resistant networking § Finally get wifi in that dead spot in your house …application architecture could change, but will it?
45. | Zero-knowledge proofs ZK-SNARKS: Zero- Knowledge Succinct Non-interactive ARgument of Knowledge Background concepts: § Arithmetic circuits & constraint systems § Homomorphic hiding § Verifiable blind evaluation of polynomials § Elliptic curve pairings <SO MUCH MATH>
46. | Zero-knowledge proofs ZK Range Proofs You could generate a zero-knowledge proof demonstrating your annual income is within a given range to afford a lease, without disclosing your exact salary ZK-SNARK You could generate a zero-knowledge proof to show a prospective buyer that your Cryptokitty has a specific genetic trait, without disclosing the whole genome
47. | Selective disclosure Birth certificate • Name • Date of birth • Location of birth • Parent’s names Passport • Name • Date of birth • Country of citizenship • Height Diploma • University attended • Degree received • Date of matriculation Employer • Place of employment • Dates of employment • Salary Bank • Cash flow averages • Credit score • Consumer profile Job Application Name Date of birth Citizenship Degree Prior employer
48. | Self-sovereign identity § Collection of data that defines our identities in various spheres (government ID, job credentials, social reputation) § No reliance on institutional permanence § Allow third parties to quickly verify data with high veracity § Take data across geographic boundaries § Potential to monetize personal data, ideally anonymously
49. | Cryptoeconomics § Allow people (and smart contracts and robots and IoT and…) to enter into economic agreements with a low barrier of trust § Incentivize desired behavior (e.g. mining), punish undesired behavior (e.g. staking) § Create fluid microeconomies / next generation sharing economy
50. | Cryptoeconomics § Allow people (and smart contracts and robots and IoT and…) to enter into economic agreements with a low barrier of trust § Incentivize desired behavior (e.g. mining), punish undesired behavior (e.g. staking) § Create fluid microeconomies / next generation sharing economy § Most ICOs are stupid
51. | CAP Theorem Append- only logs Horizontal scalability Byzantine Generals Representation Elections Invisible Hand PoW PoS Game Theory Git + PGP BitTorrent Public / Private Keypairs Hash Functions Merkle Trees Error Correction Espionage Provably Secure Elections Blockchains E-Commerce National Security Global Banking Monetary Policy Regulation Markets Sovereignty Communities Democracy Resource Allocation Speculation Artificial Scarcity Intrinsic Value Supply & Demand Economics Politics Cryptography Distributed Systems Source: unchained-capital.com
52. | dApp design principles Data Revenue Portability Free Speech Safety Privacy User data lives in application- owned servers Corporation is main beneficiary of data Social graph and friend list are locked in to preserve monopoly Platform determines what content and ideas are acceptable Centralized data creates a honeypot for hackers Communication s can be compromised by a central authority Decouples user data from the application Users can share, rescind, or monetize their data Users can seamlessly take their social graph to different apps User determines what content and ideas are acceptable Millions of data vaults make more work for hackers Communication is encrypted end-to-end Source: Blockstack DECENTRALIZED CENTRALIZED
53. | “...Demanding Enron employees prove that they were smarter than everyone else inadvertently contributed to a narcissistic culture [where] employees were both incredibly smug and driven by deep insecurity to keep showing it off. It was a culture that encouraged short-term performance but discouraged long term growth. -Angela Duckworth Grit C re d it: @ A p rilW e n se l | Compassion tech
54. | Technical choices have human impact Human Experience Human Effort Human Rights Decentralized, private, open, interoperable, accessible, secure, & sustainable Functional, convenient, & reliable Delightful Respect Source: ind.ie human technical
55. | Decentralized networks, growing together. clovyr.io GrowClovyr AmberBaldet