By Bitcoin મેગેઝિન - 7 મહિના પહેલા - વાંચવાનો સમય: 7 મિનિટ
Bitcoin બ્લોકચેન ગ્વાટેમાલાની રાષ્ટ્રપતિની ચૂંટણીઓમાં છેતરપિંડી સામે લડી રહ્યું છે
Bitcoin is helping secure the truthfulness of Guatemala’s election results.
Thanks to OpenTimestamps, a tool created by bitcoin developer Peter Todd a few years ago, Guatemalan tech startup Simple Proof is able to safeguard key documents about the country’s presidential elections from fraud and tampering. Todd’s tool, which leverages hash functions and the bitcoin blockchain, is able to timestamp pieces of information and make it easier to spot attempts at fraud and manipulation.
દસ્તાવેજોના ટાઇમસ્ટેમ્પિંગનો વિચાર એકદમ જૂનો છે. વ્યક્તિઓ અને સમાજો સદીઓથી આ ટેકનિક પર આધાર રાખે છે કે જ્યારે દસ્તાવેજ પર હસ્તાક્ષર કરવામાં આવ્યા હતા, ક્યારે ચેક લખવામાં આવ્યો હતો અથવા ક્યારે કોઈનો જન્મ થયો હતો. ક્રિપ્ટોગ્રાફિક ટાઇમસ્ટેમ્પ, જો કે, ઘણી નવી છે. તેઓ અયોગ્ય અને ભ્રષ્ટ માનવીને બદલે ગણિત પર આધાર રાખીને માનવ ટાઈમસ્ટેમ્પિંગના ખ્યાલને એક પગલું આગળ લઈ જાય છે. અત્યાધુનિક અભિનેતાઓ દ્વારા સહીઓ બનાવટી થઈ શકે છે, અને સત્તાવાળાઓ વિવિધ પ્રોત્સાહનોને આધિન હોઈ શકે છે, જે તેમને લાંચ આપવા અથવા ભ્રષ્ટ થવા માટે સક્ષમ બનાવે છે. ઉપરાંત, "ભૂલ કરવી એ માનવ છે," જ્યારે સાચા અલ્ગોરિધમનો ઉપયોગ કરવામાં આવે તો ગણિતમાં કોઈ ભૂલ થતી નથી.
An example of a good algorithm is a hash function, a type of mathematical function that takes a variable sized input to output a fixed length result. This result is called the hash of that input. Hash functions are used in the bitcoin network, notably in blocks that get added to the blockchain, as well as by OpenTimestamps.
OpenTimestamps કેવી રીતે કામ કરે છે?
OpenTimestamps leverages hash functions to cryptographically timestamp any piece of data into the bitcoin blockchain. In this case, math is being leveraged to improve upon the use of human signatures or attestation, and the bitcoin blockchain is being used as a decentralized digital ledger to anchor that information, linking it to a block. This ensures tens of thousands of nodes in the network can all independently witness the existence of the timestamp anchor and be able to verify that indeed that hash was added to a block which was mined at a certain time.
OpenTimestamps works by hashing the information submitted by a given user and adding it to a bitcoin block with a bitcoin transaction. Since the bitcoin block’s hash is calculated leveraging all the information contained in that block, the timestamping data is necessary for the calculation of that block’s hash. In other words, the assumption with the timestamping is that the miner must’ve necessarily started with that timestamp transaction –– along with the other transactions contained in the block –– to arrive at the block’s hash. This means that the information that was timestamped must have existed prior to the creation of that bitcoin block. Since every bitcoin block has a timestamp of its own, users can check the date and time that block was mined and be able to be assured with mathematical certainty that the document existed in a point in time prior to that block’s timestamp.
On its own, this assurance isn’t that valuable. Sure, it lets someone prove that a piece of data existed prior to a given point in time, but how is this useful? Well, combined with other types of information and evidence, many things can be deduced from this simple assurance. For example, one can deduce that since that information existed before that bitcoin block, any changes to that information were done after that time if its hash is different.
The pieces of information and evidence necessary for more sophisticated conclusions need to be handled by the user because, ultimately, all that OpenTimestamps provides is the proof of inclusion of the hash of that information in that bitcoin block. Therefore, users that requested the timestamp should keep the original information in hand in case they want to prove their data matches the timestamp. Given the properties of hash functions –– the same inputs always generate the same output –– the hash will be the same if the information hasn’t been altered. Thus, it becomes quite easy to tell if any alterations have been made to the original information because the hash would be different.
Under the hood, OpenTimestamps doesn’t put the hash of each individual piece of data being timestamped into bitcoin. That could be expensive, as it would require one on-chain bitcoin transaction for each timestamp. Instead, OpenTimestamps leverages Merkle trees to compact that information as much as possible.
Similar to how you can hash a large piece of information and arrive at a fixed length hash, you can hash two hashes further and get to a single hash. Likewise, you can start with four pieces of information, hash them individually, then hash them in pairs until you’re left with only one hash. The value proposition of Merkle trees in this context is all about scaling this setup, where you have a large number of individual pieces of information and you hash them until you’re left with one hash –– the root hash. OpenTimestamps takes this root hash and adds it to bitcoin, distributing the cost of a single bitcoin transaction to each initial piece of information that was submitted for timestamping and used to construct the tree.
Users can still check that their individual hash was added, and that ultimately their data was timestamped. They can leverage the OpenTimestamps website, or go full cypherpunk and hash all the data until they reach the tree’s root hash and crosscheck with the data that’s on bitcoin.
આને ગ્વાટેમાલા સાથે શું લેવાદેવા છે?
ગ્વાટેમાલા તેના રાજકીય વર્તુળોમાં ભ્રષ્ટાચાર અને છેતરપિંડીનો લાંબો ઇતિહાસ ધરાવે છે. તે સંદર્ભમાં ITZ DATA દ્વારા ગ્વાટેમાલાન સુપ્રીમ ઇલેક્શન્સ ટ્રિબ્યુનલ (TSE) – – દેશની સર્વોચ્ચ ચૂંટણી સત્તા માટે એક અપરિવર્તનશીલ બેકઅપ સોલ્યુશન તરીકે સિમ્પલ પ્રૂફ લાગુ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
"The Simple Proof solution, named Immutable Backup, leverages the OpenTimestamps protocol to record proofs of documents in a tamper-evident manner on the bitcoin blockchain," Rafael Cordón, co-founder of Simple Proof, told Bitcoin Magazine. "TSE used Simple Proof to safeguard official election documents and protect critical information from artificial intelligence and disinformation, ensuring that any tampering of documents is made evident and any citizen can independently verify the information for themselves."
ગ્વાટેમાલાના નાગરિકો આપેલ કોઈપણ ટેલી શીટને તપાસી શકે છે અને સમર્પિત વેબ પોર્ટલ દ્વારા તેના ટાઇમસ્ટેમ્પના પુરાવાને ચકાસી શકે છે. દરેક શીટમાં મતદાન મતદાનમાં દરેક ઉમેદવારના મતોનો સરવાળો હોય છે. તેથી, ટાલી શીટ કે જે સ્કેન કરવામાં આવી હતી અને મતોની ગણતરી માટે ઉપયોગમાં લેવામાં આવી હતી, તેમજ જ્યારે દરેક ટેલી શીટ ટાઇમસ્ટેમ્પ કરવામાં આવી હતી ત્યારે તે અંગે વસ્તીને પારદર્શિતા પૂરી પાડવામાં આવે છે.
એ નોંધવું અગત્યનું છે કે આ સેટઅપ આપેલ ટેલી શીટ માન્ય છે કે નહીં તે પ્રમાણિત કરી શકતું નથી; TSE તરફ હજુ પણ વિશ્વાસની ધારણા છે. જો કે, તે માત્ર અધિકારીઓને તેમના શબ્દ માટે લેવા પર એક સુધારો છે, કારણ કે તે, ઉદાહરણ તરીકે, તમામ ટેલી શીટ્સમાંથી બહાર નીકળનારાઓને શોધવાનું સરળ છે. કોઈપણ એક ટેલી શીટ માટે મતદારોને ચોક્કસ માન્યતા માહિતી જણાવવાને બદલે, OpenTimestamps ચૂંટણીના સમગ્ર સંદર્ભની ઝાંખી કરવાની મંજૂરી આપે છે.
For example, it arguably shouldn’t take more than an hour after voting ends to scan a tally sheet, upload it to Simple Proof’s solution, and get it timestamped into a confirmed bitcoin block. If the majority of tally sheets fall within that hour but a few were timestamped much longer after the closing of votes, it is reasonable to assume that those outlier sheets have a much greater chance of being fraudulent than the other ones. In other words, in the event that a tally sheet was entered much after it was supposed to, the timestamps are going to tell you that it is suspicious that it took that long to timestamp the sheet after the polls closed rather than less than an hour later.
ગ્વાટેમાલાની ચૂંટણીના સંદર્ભમાં આ ખાસ મહત્ત્વનું હતું અને હજુ પણ છે કારણ કે ત્યાંના તણાવને કારણે રેસમાં આગળ વધી રહ્યા હતા, તેમજ બહારના ઉમેદવાર કે જેણે તેને જીતી લીધી હતી. પ્રમુખ-ચુંટાયેલા બર્નાર્ડો અરેવાલો મુખ્ય રેસ માટે ક્વોલિફાય થવાના મહિનાઓ પહેલા પણ અપેક્ષા ન હતી.
Once Arévalo won the presidential election, the outcry was massive. Officials from the office of the country’s attorney general, María Consuelo Porras, raided facilities of the TSE, opening dozens of boxes of votes, per AP. The opposing party, UNE, claimed the victory was fraudulent and demanded a vote recount.
UNE એ કેટલાક કથિત પુરાવાઓ સાથે તેમના તર્કને સમજાવતો X પર એક થ્રેડ પોસ્ટ કર્યો –- સિમ્પલ પ્રૂફના વેબ ટૂલ પર એક ટેલી શીટના સ્ક્રીનશૉટ સહિત કે જે દર્શાવે છે કે તે ટાઇમસ્ટેમ્પ છે પહેલાં મતદાન બંધ.
Either in an attempt to push their narrative or by mistake, the screenshot of that tally sheet was taken on a different timezone than the country’s capital official time, leading to the one-hour difference. In this specific case, bitcoin helped ensure the claims made by UNE were false, and any citizen was able to verify it by checking the timestamp on their computer. Notably, one did –– publishing a screenshot on X rectifying that the tally sheet UNE claimed had been tampered with had actually not been timestamped too early.
જ્યારે bitcoin was designed and developed solely to solve the double spend problem and achieve electronic peer-to-peer money, its network of nodes and decentralized ledger can power other interesting use cases.
In this case, it’s evident how Simple Proof played an important role in protecting key election information. Had OpenTimestamps and bitcoin not been a part of the process of securing that information in a cryptographic, public and decentralized manner, there could’ve been a much bigger outcry and tumultuous procedures to try to ensure the information hadn’t been tampered with. Doubts would most likely still persist, and in a country with a history of fragile democratic procedures, the shaking of confidence could deter the president-elect’s ability to lead the nation as its rightful new leader.
મૂળ સ્ત્રોત: Bitcoin મેગેઝિન