Data Cooperatives for Identity Attestations

TL;DR

This paper introduces a privacy-preserving attestation system using data cooperatives, where attestations are blinded and countersigned by a legal entity, enhancing privacy in digital asset transactions and social networks.

Contribution

It proposes a novel blinded attestation method with legal countersignature, improving privacy and trust in data cooperative attestations.

Findings

Blinded attestations protect member identity.

Legal countersignature ensures trustworthiness.

Applicable to digital assets and decentralized social networks.

Abstract

Data cooperatives with fiduciary obligations to members provide a useful source of truthful information regarding a given member whose personal data is managed by the cooperative. Since one of the main propositions the cooperative model is to protect the data privacy of members, we explore the notion of blinded attestations in which the identity of the subject is removed from the attestations issued by the cooperative regarding one of its members. This is performed at the request of the individual member. We propose the use of a legal entity to countersign the blinded attestation, one that has an attorney-client relationship with the cooperative, and which can henceforth become the legal point of contact for inquiries regarding the individual related to the attribute being attested. There are several use-cases for this feature, including the Funds Travel Rule in transactions in digital assets, and the protection of privacy in decentralized social networks.