Warning: When reading something you do not understand about “blockchain”, do not assume it is too complicated to have some understanding of it. Rather assume that the organization talking about “blockchain” is purposefully trying to obfuscate something with buzzwords and make you FEEL stupid.
ZERO TRUST for these organizations should be a result and the solutions they offer.
The basic concepts are not that hard.
I am going to explain block chain in my own words and simplify it as much as possible.
What is a Ledger?
A Ledger is simply a table of transactions. Banks maintain ledgers. They used to be maintained in a book. Money that comes in must be equal to what goes out. Simple. Banks now have digital ledgers maintained in a database using software.
Your bank statement which includes all of the transactions for YOU is YOUR ledger. The bank branch also maintains a ledger for all of the accounts at that branch. Finally, the bank has a company wide ledger. Simple.
However, these are PRIVATE ledgers. You only get to see your ledger. Certain people depending on their position in the bank hierarchy, get to see various levels of the ledger. The CFO gets to see the ENTIRE ledger.
Ledgers are a way to CONTROL the business and also control you.
Private ledgers are NOT Egalitarian nor should they be. You have to be a paying member to see the ledger. You can be administratively removed from the ledger. This is what happens when certain banks decide they do not like your politics so you lose the privilege of banking with them.
They are kicking you off of the ledger.
Globalists LUV private ledgers.
What is a Transaction on a Ledger?
This is a single line item in the book or in the database describing what changed on the ledger. How much was deposited for example. There is also what is called “meta-data” on the ledger for each transaction. This is “data about the data”. For example, who, when and where was the money deposited? Was it cash? Was it a check or a wire transfer? How old is the person who deposited it? Etc..With meta data, you can become an auditing sleuth when questions arise about certain transactions.
What is an Audit Trail of the Ledger Transactions?
This is a table of data related to each transaction. I have a record describing a transaction of a $100 deposit. That record includes meta data and all of it is recorded when the transaction occurs. To make something up, now suppose I was looking at my statement and I see a deposit of $10 when I know it should have been $100.
I am not going to be happy. I will demand accountability. I want to know who changed my transaction record.
I go to the bank, I show them my receipt. They then go to the transaction record and look at the related audit trail table for that record. They see an unauthorized hacker had access to the database because the audit trail shows them changing the transaction amount to $10 and then moving the other $90 to a different account.
But wait, let’s look at a different scenario.
Let’s assume the hacker was smart enough to ALSO remove the audit trail records. At that point, you are screwed because there is no way to tell where the money went. You have your receipt but the problem cannot be redressed.
Hence the concept of a Distributed Ledger.
What is a Distributed Ledger?
A distributed ledger is simply a backup copy of the ledger. In this example above, let’s assume the hacker did not alter the backup. Therefore when you COMPARE the copies of the ledgers, you can see differences and then can figure out the bank was hacked.
So simply put (very very simply) coming back to blockchain, it is a SYSTEM for creating, maintaining and comparing widely distributed ledgers (that are supposed to be the same) through the creation of NODES. Imagine for example, there were 1,000 copies of the bank’s ledger. That would be 1,000 NODES. It would be virtually impossible to hack because no hacker is going to attempt to make changes to 1,000 copies of the ledger, it is too difficult.
Currently, for example, bitcoin has over 100,000 such distributed ledger nodes for bitcoin. Bitcoin however is a PUBLIC ledger.
Private versus Public Distributed Ledgers
In a PRIVATE system, you have to be a member. Membership is obtained in many cases by a vote of the members and through paying a fee. There is no guarantee that you can become a member. You can be denied. The members can COLLUDE to keep you out.
To make up a silly example, if I am the president of the HOA and want to put my HOA finances on an AWS service with a distributed ledger, the only members I would want would be those entities who have a legal interest in the HOA finances which is NOT the general public.
In a PUBLIC system, any entity can join the blockchain and maintain a copy of the ledger of interest. This is a public NODE on the blockchain. It takes some technical effort which is beyond the skills of many people, but there is a certain level of TRUST in such a public system when you know there are 100,000 identical copies of the ledger and more copies of the nodes being created everyday.
Voter Registration Databases
Now we come to the main topic here. Let me get to the point of my highly simplified explanation.
Organization like OSET who claim to be using “block-chain-like” technology to manage voter registration rolls are NOT setting up a PUBLIC widely distributed ledger. If you look into the details of the service OSET is using, you will find the core of it is a PRIVATE membership. Members are voted onto the blockchain network. Members pay a fee for using the data.
So, in a sense, the voter registration data for a state COULD be widely distributed (buzzword check satisfied) but………not to the CITIZENS. The CITIZENS are not going to be voted into the membership. Government entities will spend your tax dollars and vote themselves into the membership and if you are lucky, provide the data to you UPON REQUEST.
Your tax dollars pay for the blockchain network but YOU cannot be admitted as a member. Does that sound OK?
Now what if the registration data where to be housed in a PUBLIC blockchain network?
That would mean I could install a NODE on my computer of the voter registration database and WATCH the transactions more or less in real time. I would only have access to update MY voter registration data but I could see a full copy of the entire ledger and watch the transactions of everyone else.
Conclusion
Watch out for buzzwords on blockchain. If the system is not a PUBLIC widely distributed ledger, be skeptical. Public voter registration data needs to be PUBLIC.
You can read more about it here.