Preserving one's rights to identity ownership is paramount in this century. We're venturing into a post-truth epoch where malicious deepfake fabrication and identity theft are on the rise. As an artist and creator, this new reality compels me to leverage contemporary technologies to my advantage.
Now, introducing crypto wallet to our dilemma: a device (or application) harboring private keys to authenticate blockchain activities. With trillions in transactions safeguarded by this method, this tech is robust, if not overkill, for the broader use case of these wallets beyond cryptocurrencies and NFTs: securing communications from artist to audience.
Undoubtedly, asymmetric encryption as an information safeguard is not a novel concept. End-to-end encryption for messages, emails, software updates, and even this blog post, employ this technology. Given its proven efficacy in real-world scenarios, we can assuredly devise a method to secure individual information. In essence, allow me to wrap this old trick in a new shiny box.
Key takeaway: everyone, especially creators, should adopt this practice to authenticate all disseminated information. The reality that identity theft now encompasses misinformation to a severe extent, suggests that anyone with significant influence should decidedly secure their press releases, even tweets.
Signatures generated with asymmetric encryption will alter significantly if the message is modified even slightly, thus rendering the message tamper-proof.
I've implemented Ethereum's ERC-191 Signed Data Standard on my personal site to sign and verify messages from my own wallet. Visit https://xxxxizzy.xyz/verify and paste this signed message to authenticate its validity:
{"m":"We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.","s":"c3ELZjQcTHWvOBEIkYQyHs6MA5KwfDg5xWktUqkzAsMCHGBGMBW7Wv+61F7qTEQFvOS3wljYf809ui4PFUKvsBw=","r":"N7dFjF8Ugiv0I5Za7Qd6ICaQEcU="}
The Jakarta Illustration and Creative Arts Fair, featuring myself and numerous other artists in an art market centered on physical prints and illustrations, is the ideal event to unveil this digital signature.
Now and in the future, I intend to employ this digital signature on all significant creations and releases, particularly physical articles.
Additionally, this digital signature necessitates no ongoing upkeep; once forged, it stands alone, verifiable even without the verification page on my site, so long as the same ERC-191 specified method is utilized. The icing on the cake, all requisite information for verification is encapsulated within: the message, the signature, and the sender – these are all one needs to authenticate the information.
Sadly, we are still stuck with the reality that individuals may overlook verification, despite having the tools readily available. This problem, rooted in human nature, is beyond the scope of this application. Yet, hope endures.