Zero Knowledge Reputation Service Using Unique Tokens
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing reputation systems are vulnerable to fraud and abuse, such as Sybil attacks and Astroturfing, as they rely on personal information and cannot track individuals across multiple providers, allowing false feedback to affect provider reputations without consequences for the feedback providers.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented reputation service using zero-knowledge protocols and verifiable computing to ensure privacy, where unique tokens like e-passports or DNS domain private keys are used to associate ratings with users, applying weighting factors and tracking composite reputations within contexts to prevent abuse and maintain anonymity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If personal information (credit card numbers, names, addresses) is linked to prevent abuse, then fraud prevention is improved, but user privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments user identification into two independent components: a unique immutable token for tracking reputation and an anonymous identity for privacy protection. The token is derived from personal information through a one-way hash function, separating the tracking function from the identifying function, allowing fraud prevention without exposing personal data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a cryptographic hash function as an intermediary that transforms personal information into an immutable token. This intermediary process ensures that the original personal information cannot be recovered from the token, acting as a one-way bridge that enables tracking while preserving privacy.
2Reliability
If unique tokens are used to track users across providers, then fraud prevention is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically generating the immutable token from the user's personal information using a standardized hash function. The token generation is automated and deterministic, eliminating the need for manual assignment or complex registration processes, thereby reducing operational complexity while maintaining tracking capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of user identification from storing raw personal information to storing a transformed parameter (the hashed token). This parameter transformation simplifies the data structure and reduces the complexity of data management while maintaining the ability to uniquely identify and track users across providers.
3Measurement precision
If weighting factors are applied to ratings, then reputation accuracy is improved, but computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial weighting by considering only the most relevant factors (recency and verification status) rather than attempting to weight every possible attribute of a rating. This selective approach achieves sufficient reputation accuracy without the computational burden of comprehensive analysis, implementing enough weighting to prevent manipulation but not so much as to create excessive computational demands.
Data Source
AI summary
A reputation service running on a server, for example as a cloud server, includes receiving a request from a first user device and a second user device. The reputation management for both internet services and service providers, as well as the individuals who provide reputation feedback on those services and providers and each other. The service operates in zero-knowledge verifiable computing in order to enable strong assurance of anonymity among all participating parties. The method includes receiving, from a user using a zero-knowledge protocol to ensure privacy of the user, a rating with a unique token associated with the user, and identifier of a party to be rated. The party in one example is a person or a business entity. The unique token in one example is one or more of a tax identifier, an e-passport, or a private key of a DNS Domain registered with a certificate authority.