Identification in decentralized networks

[kaar]

This is something that I have been thinking about lately when I saw all the measures new alts use to try to create a fair initial distribution. Current distribution consensuses tend to create a pretty centralized network, each in a different aspect. The ideal solution would be some kind of PoS, where the amount of stakes each person can have is limited. Once he is identified, he would be able to create a special address and only this address will be able to stake. The big problem here of course is what does identify someone as a person?

I couldn't come up with an idea that achieves reliable identification, privacy and decentralization together. For most people the way to identify is using an official document issued by their government. If the privacy requirement is removed, a simple way to identify someone is simply requesting a photo of an official document, or some other method that involves it, like what most exchanges require to verify an account. This is a pretty bad solution even if someone doesn't care about his privacy as dealing with official documents is a mess which many people will avoid.

The best solution that I was able to come up with is using the service of a company for the identification part that deals with official papers. One will do the whole identification process directly with that company and then will be issued some certificate that can be used as identification. The certificate will include information about his public key, so later he would be able to prove that it is really his by using his private key. Obviously this needs to be done right. The company will have to keep records of all the people who registered to make sure someone doesn't register more than once. It also shouldn't be able to connect the certificate to an actual person, to keep the whole process private. There are other issues of course, however there are ways to solve them (some of them are already used today in various kinds of application) so I do think it's achievable.

I would love to hear other's thoughts on this as I'm sure there are better solutions.

[bluefirecorp_]

>The best solution that I was able to come up with is using the service of a company for the identification part that deals with official papers

That's some sort of centralized authority which is opposite of decentralization... also you literally just recreated PKI =)

The problem is a complex one and I doubt anyone on this forum is going to solve it.

[Jet Cash]

There isn't a way, because you can't prevent people working in collusion, or my registering as myself, my partner, the dog, and next door's cat.

[kaar]

>The best solution that I was able to come up with is using the service of a company for the identification part that deals with official papers

That's some sort of centralized authority which is opposite of decentralization... also you literally just recreated PKI =)

The problem is a complex one and I doubt anyone on this forum is going to solve it.

I agree that this is not a complete decentralized solution, like I said, I don't think a complete decentralized solution exists with current technology. However  I don't think that using centralized authorities for specific goals is bad by definition, especially if there are no better solutions right now.
Also just to make it clear, obviously I didn't invent anything and I never claimed that. The point of this thread is not to create some revolutionary algorithm, just to discuss possible solutions in the currently available technology and hear other's people thoughts on this.

There isn't a way, because you can't prevent people working in collusion, or my registering as myself, my partner, the dog, and next door's cat.

Did you read the post? Of course you can prevent people from registering fake people if you involve centralized authorities. The whole point of this thread is to discuss if it's possible to achieve that without using centralized solutions, or if it's really that bad to use the help of a centralized companies to solve this problem.
I don't know what you mean by "people working in collusion", but I guess people could still register their relatives and friends. Would you however let someone you don't completely trust have control over your money? Most people wouldn't, so in worst case they would be able to register a few more times using their family. That is far better than current situation.

[zoran.drobnjak]

Once he is identified, he would be able to create a special address and only this address will be able to stake. The big problem here of course is what does identify someone as a person?

I will narrow down my idea just to solve above mentioned purpose, not focusing this time on other possible usage of strict identification.

To ensure that someone can stake only so and so much and prevent usage of additional identities to enable him to multiply his share unfairly you don't even need person's documents, you just need to set a repetitive condition to be fulfilled on each access to funds that is such in it's nature to make it sufficiently hard and unpractical to be replicated multiple times.

For instance when you are authorizing transaction on Leger Nano you must press hardware button on your end - without this individual action nothing moves forward. In your proposed imaginary case you also need some kind of identity confirmation through individual action on the other end using piece of hardware readily available on all devices such as camera in conjunction with recognition software for instance. Or maybe through voice recognition software or by providing unique hardware for identification purpose.

Anything that focuses on unique non-replicable features without a need for harvesting actual identity documents.

[gjhiggins]

The big problem here of course is what does identify someone as a person?

For best results, conduct your Turing test off-line and face-to-face.

Cheers

Graham

[bluefirecorp_]

The big problem here of course is what does identify someone as a person?

For best results, conduct your Turing test off-line and face-to-face.

Cheers

Graham

That only works until they develop synthetic skin and perfect voice synthesis. AI would have billions of hours of research to perfect their craft (from just public youtube videos alone).