Pallecchi explained the need for a robust identity system as follows: “Construction sites on the SBB network often involve third parties. For safety reasons, there are strict requirements regarding the qualification of personnel.”
The solution was created by a Linum Labs blockchain startup utilizing uPort’s open source technical know-how, a venture introduced beneath the umbrella of New York – based Ethereum design studio ConsenSys.
The solution was created by a Linum Labs blockchain startup utilizing uPort’s open source innovation, a venture launched under the umbrella of New York – based Ethereum design studio ConsenSys.
In the proof of concept, workers have created their digital identities on their mobile devices in the uPort app, and SBB has issued certificates confirming that they have received adequate training.
The workers used these digital IDs when they signed in and out of the building sites they worked on. To enter the site, a worker would scan a QR code on their mobile phone from the app on his or her cellphone.
In a Medium post, Linum Labs wrote “Using uPort, railway workers, certification authorities and supervisors are able to have their own unique digital identities linked to their respective uPort ID’s, which is then anchored to an identity on the blockchain. A hash of the worker’s check-in / check-out activities is published to the blockchain so that the internal database can be audited.”
The app can moreover interface to city administration-authorized identity systems, such as the Zug ID, which also employs the tech of uPort. This summer, in the Swiss town of Zug, electronic voting by means of blockchain was tried and presently another pilot is included: Local inhabitants can utilize Zug IDs to unlock bikes from AirBie, a Zurich – based bike sharing firm. Pallecchi of SBB denied to supply any particular details on the next steps and included that the company “may have more steady information” in early 2019.
In agreement with the open-source ethos of the startup, uPort was not specifically included within the railroad venture, its product chief, Thierry Bonfante. He further said. “Our partners are representing our system on the market. We’ll just make sure that they have all they need from us.”
However, amid the course of the railway pilot in August, uPort overhauled its engineering to resolve the issues of adaptability and security and moved more operations off-chain. Since uPort is based on ethereum, which has battled to scale, the framework is moderate and incapable with each operation on the blockchain, Bonfante said.
Another issue that caused the alteration at uPort was that it was troublesome to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union received in May. The regulation incorporates a “right to be forgotten,” which implies that data about a person is asked to be expelled from the public space.
Bonfante said “If you always put your information on the blockchain it’s irrevocable. So you have lost your right to be forgotten.”
Clients’ individual information is stored off-chain on their mobile phones with the new uPort design. In the case of the Swiss railway, Bonfante further explained “blockchain is only used for additional key management purposes, such as key rotation, revocation and delegation to third parties.”
The framework works well for little amount of data, according to Alice Nawfal, chief of operations at uPort. But in the future, as the market comes to the point where more complex identity applications are required, “it’ll likely not work on a telephone,” so uPort is looking to make a storage hub system, said Nawfal.
She added that SBB “really understood” the possibilities of verifiable credentials.
Nawfal said “Before this, the use cases were, for example, that people were able to identify that they are residents of a particular city. And the railways are going with a more complex implementation with certification and multiple credentials.”