Blockchain Talk_Sauder_Jan13_2017

In Blockchain we Trust? Some recent developments in blockchain research at UBC

Victoria L. Lemieux, Darra Hofman and Stephen Thompson

Sauder School of Business, MIS Department

January 13, 2017

Overview

1. Discuss the nature of blockchain technology2. Discuss some recent research on blockchain

technology in which the research team are involved:a) Vicki – Evaluating and designing blockchain technology

through an archival science lensb) Steve – Working with an industry partner to refine their use

cases for the application of blockchain technology in supply chain management

c) Darra – Privacy, data protection and legal issues relating to blockchain technology

3. Discuss the formation of Blockchain@UBC

What is Blockchain Technology?

Infographic credit: Darra Hofman

Not a technology . . . An ecosystem

Infograhic credit: BigChainDB

Blockchain as a “value memory transfer system”

• Distributed ledger technology• Throughout time, ledgers have

stored memories of transactions as trusted evidence (aka trusted “proof of existence”) of those transactions

• Objects that store memories of transactions as evidence are called records

What is a record?According to the International Records Management Standard (ISO 15489), a record is:

“information created, received and maintained as evidence (3.10) and as an asset by an organization or person, in pursuit of legal obligations

or in the transaction (3.18) of business”

According to CAN/CGSB 72.34 Electronic Records as Document Evidence, a record is:

“any document made or received by an organization in the course of and by reason of its activity, and kept for further action and reference.”

Some of the Ways that Blockchain Differs from Traditional Types of Recordkeeping Systems

• “Financialization” of recordkeeping• Much higher levels of decentralization• Distributed consensus mode of establishing

trust• Separation of authentication from originating

records (and, in some cases, recordkeeping systems)

SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis on Blockchain for Recordkeeping

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of

Canada

Key Findings

Many current and proposed applications of blockchain technology aim to address

recordkeeping challenges; they offer a new form of generation use, storage and/or control

of records.

Guardtime and Estonian Healthcare Records

Key Findings

Claims associated with use of blockchain technology for recordkeeping are, in a number of cases, overhyped. As an example, blockchain

solutions that claim to provide “archival” solutions do not actually preserve or provide

for long-term accessibility of records.

Factom

“Blockchains are archival record keepers. Permanent and transparent, they are

the perfect solution for an industry-wide problem of transmitting and archiving critical

accurate records.” - Brian Deery

Lemieux, Victoria Louise. "Trusting Records: Is Blockchain Technology the Answer?." Records Management Journal 26.2 (2016).

Key Findings

As it is a recordkeeping technology, the blockchain’s future development will benefit from the theoretical and practical knowledge

of archival science.

Archival Science – The Science of Recordkeeping

• Archival science is a pure and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of process-bound information, both as product and as agent of human thoughts, emotions, and activities, in its various contexts (Encyclopedia of Archival Science).

• The goal is to ensure that the records continue to provide trustworthy evidence of the facts recorded in them, whether that evidence is needed for legal reasons, historical research or some other purpose.

Requirements for “Proof”• Accuracy: Degree to which recorded information is precise, correct, truthful, free of

error and distortion• Reliability: A reliable record is one whose contents can be trusted as a full and

accurate representation of the transactions, activities or facts to which they attest and can be depended upon in the course of subsequent transactions or activities (aka Binding to real-world)

• Authenticity: Reliant upon establishing and preserving the identity and the integrity of a record from its point of creation and thereafter (hence, linked to the notion of provenance)

• Provenance: The relationships between records and the organizations or individuals that created, accumulated and/or maintained and used them in the conduct of personal or corporate activity. [Archives]

• Archival bond: Relations among records necessary to their evidential character (aka Pointers e.g. in the zone file from hashed reference authenticating identity of original record).

• Persistence– Semantic– Representational– Technological

In Partnership with MIT Media Lab and W3C – “Semantic Blockchain”

Blockchain-As-A-Service for Supply Chain

Steve Thompson

About Me

• Graduate student at UBC’s School of Library, Archival and Information Studies

• UK academic publishing background• Long-standing bitcoin enthusiast• Interest in information security, metadata, bitcoin’s price

gyrations, IT• Dr Vicki Lemieux, Darra and myself run Blockchain@UBC

About NeuSwyft Software

• NeuSwyft offers a range of software solutions and services based on open source technologies for these business processes:supply chain management,payments automation,

• And in these industrial sectors:Food and beverages,DistributionEquipmentHealthcare

Blockchain-as-a-Service for Supply Chain

• My collaboration with NeuSwyft involves the delivery of these blockchain-powered solutions:o Identifying supply chain processes that can be enhanced by

blockchain applicationso Arranging blockchain metadata for a wide range of supply chain

applicationso Advising on the social, political, legal and institutional issues

that can emerge from blockchain technology adoptiono Analysing business conditions that will make NeuSwyft’s

adoption of blockchain successfulo Agreeing blockchain system requirements for long-term

preservation of business records

Blockchain records, law and privacy

Darra l. hofman, j.d., msls

About Me

• Former lawyer• Currently in my second year of the doctoral

program at the iSchool at UBC, focusing on archival science and, in particular privacy, identity, data protection and associated legal issues

Records and law

• The law relies on records for many purposes:– Proving rights– Enforcing agreements– Serving as evidence– Documenting and enforcing judgments

(some) records on the blockchain

• “Smart contracts”• “Smart trusts and

estates”• Identity records• Property records

– Real, personal, and intellectual property

• Health records• Financial records• Internet of Things

(one) major challenge and opportunity: privacy and data protection

• Privacy law (in some jurisdictions, data protection) is both location- and domain-specific– Consider, in Canada alone, some of the laws that touch privacy

include the Privacy Act, PIPA, FIPPA, PIPEDA, the Access to Information Act, the Bank Act…

• The blockchain, with some exceptions, is notably transjurisdictional and transdomain– Particularly difficult in jurisdictions with data localization laws,

like B.C. • Another word for challenge? Opportunity. Many see the

blockchain as offering privacy solutions.

Blockchain@UBC Strategic Planning Workshop . . . Thurs. Jan. 26

Thank you

[email protected]@[email protected]

www.blockchainubc.ca