Port cryptographically proves your uniqueness to the global community (1 person 1 EOS account) and dwarfs Sybil attacks. It only exposes the country of origin and no other personal data. It’s an ambitious and unique effort to onboard massive Public Key Infrastructure provided by ICAO and Passports to the EOS blockchain. Port allows you to tap your passport on your phone and join the global trust chain.
People from 22 countries already used passports on Pomelo Grants. You can improve your Pomelo TRUST BONUS on the profile page.
How to use the Port application?
Use the app to scan the QR code from the service integrating Port (e.g. Pomelo)
Enter specific passport data into the app to establish secure communication with the passport (that data stays locally)
Tap the passport on the back of the phone to read it
Review and approve the request to send passport attestation (cryptographic) data to the Port smart contract.
That’s it, your EOS account is now attested as unique!
What is happening behind the curtain?
When all required data is entered into the Port app (i.e. EOS account name & passport specific) secure connection is established between the app and a passport. The app then sends a hash of the EOS account name + EOS blockchain data to the passport for signing. The passport returns the signature and its trust-chain authentication data.
This data is sent to the Port server (later smart contract) for authenticity verification. When verification succeeds contract stores all relevant passport attestation data which can be used by on-chain (smart contracts) & off-chain third parties for account uniqueness checks and other purposes.
Why this ID solution? Why not some other identity?
Typical DID solutions out there require trusted third parties to bring DIDs on the chain. This takes the form of a person looking at your ID documents, then signing using their key that they have seen the documents. Port skips the manual labor, personal data collection, storage, and trust required, for a more secure, cheaper (no real cost per person), more private, and much faster and decentralized solution.
Public good
All components of the solution will be fully open-sourced, and documentation provided for people to deploy. Port is also running instances so dapps can use it as “lego” and instead focus on other parts of their dapp.
Port can be used as an infrastructure piece to ensure Sybil protection on-chain in d/apps:
for voting/election
quadratic funding (Pomelo Trust score)
UBI airdrops for humanitarian or marketing campaigns
Building block for more anonymous verifications
limit orders (e.g. one order per person)
The team keeps maintaining an extensive amount of open-source code.
Sources
Apps:
Web components:
Server + verification logic:
Default implementation
Website port.link for easier onboarding to the app stores:
Author: Josh Chung
Editor: Randall Roland
Translation: -
Sources & References:
YouTube video: Presenting the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD)
YouTube video: the Port Android demo
Download and install Port app: Apple Store, Play Store