The island of Alderney, a self-governing British Crown Dependency, has sponsored an experimental open-source timestamping service based on distributed ledger technology.
Created by the Z/Yen Group , the MetroGnomo project uses the startup’s mutual distributed ledger (MDL) tech to provide a service that facilitates commerce by providing ‘proof of existence’ for data.
The company cites use cases for MetroGnomo that include the dating of contracts; proving authorship of books, images and music; authenticating closed-circuit TV footage; and facilitating information exchange between organisations.
Marc Morris, a researcher at Z/Yen told CoinDesk that MetroGnomo can be employed for "any application" in which a third-party proof that a given piece of information was in existence is needed.
For example, Morris said content creators could prove ownership using the platform: "In the same way that scientists have previously concealed their theorems in anagrams, an author can use MetroGnomo to prove that he had access to the book’s content at a given time whilst concealing the content itself. To achieve this, the user simply timestamps the hash of the book using his registration, which is linked to his email address." He cited security guards timestamping site checks and care workers proving a patient has been visited as examples of how it could be implemented.
Bob McDowall , chairman of the finance committee of the States of Alderney, told CoinDesk that the island is seeking to establish itself as a centre for standards setting and accreditation in the blockchain technology sectors.
Regarding its involvement with MetroGnomo, he explained that Alderney is lending its name to the project, adding that the self-governing island embarked on the initiative as a way to showcase how it is has created an environment open to innovation.
CoinDesk asked Morris about the legitimacy of using an MDL timestamp for legal purposes, say, as evidence in court."At the […]
