Proof-of-Personhood

Introduction to Proof-of-Personhood

Proof of Personhood is a concept in the digital world designed to verify that a user of a service or participant in an activity is indeed a human being, and uniquely so. Imagine you're in a crowded virtual room where everyone wears masks. Some are real people like you, but some are clever robots or duplicates of real people trying to pretend they're human. Proof of Personhood is like a special key given only to real humans to ensure that each person has equal influence or rights, without being overshadowed by AI or other individuals trying to game the system by pretending to be another person.

Overall, Proof of Personhood attempts to bring the principle of "one person, one vote" to the digital domain, fostering environments that are fair, democratic, and respectful of human participation.

To read more about the Proof-of-Personhood particularly based on World ID, refer to this article by Vitalik Buterin.

Why do we need to have a proof-of-personhood

This concept is crucial for four reasons:

1. Democracy and Fairness: In voting systems or decision-making processes online, ensuring each person has one and only one vote prevents manipulation and maintains fairness.

2. Reducing Spam and Abuse: By verifying human identity, systems can reduce the amount of spam or abusive content generated by bots.

3. Resource Allocation: In scenarios where resources are limited (like in online contests or giveaways), Proof of Personhood helps ensure these resources are distributed fairly among real humans.

4. Enhancing Security: It adds a layer of security by making it harder for malicious entities to create multiple fake accounts for fraudulent purposes.

Proof of personhood is valuable because it solves a lot of anti-spam and anti-concentration-of-power problems that many people have, in a way that avoids dependence on centralized authorities and reveals the minimal information possible.

Existing projects and approaches to proof-of-personhood (taken from the article linked above)

• Proof of Humanity: you upload a video of yourself, and provide a deposit. To be approved, an existing user needs to vouch for you, and an amount of time needs to pass during which you can be challenged. If there is a challenge, a Kleros decentralized court determines whether or not your video was genuine; if it is not, you lose your deposit and the challenger gets a reward.

• BrightID: you join a video call "verification party" with other users, where everyone verifies each other. Higher levels of verification are available via Bitu, a system in which you can get verified if enough other Bitu-verified users vouch for you.

• Idena: you play a captcha game at a specific point in time (to prevent people from participating multiple times); part of the captcha game involves creating and verifying captchas that will then be used to verify others.

• Circles: an existing Circles user vouches for you. Circles is unique in that it does not attempt to create a "globally verifiable ID"; rather, it creates a graph of trust relationships, where someone's trustworthiness can only be verified from the perspective of your own position in that graph.

• Privacy Concerns: Many Proof-of-Personhood systems require users to submit personal information or undergo verification processes that could compromise their privacy. Projects like WorldCoin, which use biometric data, have raised concerns about how this sensitive information is stored, protected, and potentially misused.

• Exclusion and Accessibility: These systems might inadvertently exclude individuals who lack access to the necessary technology or are uncomfortable with the verification process. For example, people without smartphones or those who are wary of providing biometric data might be left out.

• Implementation Complexity: Setting up a Proof-of-Personhood system that is both secure and user-friendly is complex. The challenge of distinguishing between individuals without infringing on their privacy or freedom can lead to technical and ethical dilemmas.

• False Positives/Negatives: No system is perfect, and there's always a risk of incorrectly identifying someone as a bot (false positive) or allowing a sophisticated bot to pass as human (false negative). These errors could lead to unfair treatment or system manipulation.

• Scalability Issues: As the community around a Proof-of-Personhood system grows, maintaining the integrity and efficiency of the verification process becomes more challenging. The system needs to scale without compromising on speed, accuracy, or user experience.

• Centralization Risks: Some Proof-of-Personhood projects rely on centralized databases or verification authorities, which could become targets for attacks or abuse. This centralization contradicts the decentralized ethos of many online communities and blockchain projects.

• Legal and Regulatory Challenges: Navigating the legal landscape with technologies that handle sensitive personal data, especially on a global scale, can be fraught with challenges. Compliance with laws like GDPR in Europe, which protects individual data privacy, adds another layer of complexity.

• Cultural and Ethical Implications: The concept of what constitutes proof of one's personhood varies culturally and philosophically. Projects like these delve into deep ethical territories about identity and existence in the digital age, which may not have universally accepted answers.