Marc,
Thanks for this intriguing link. Trust or authenticity are a key challenge within the digital domain. Unlike the physical domain where we can verify, relatively easily an identity, the digital domain becomes a simulacrum in which identity is unstable.
For records management, this is particularly challenging as we need to be able to provide a document's provenance and whether it can be trusted even if it has been "out of our hands" or "out of our sight". The challenge is particularly acute with cloud storage.
I would hesitate to use the word "immutable" with anything electronic or digital. What is clear is that the digital domain, under the full influence of the electro-magnetic spectrum, is radically mutable. As the Quantum Encryption suggests, it is the mutability or instability that allows its theoretical encryption to be "unbreakable".
I think we will reach a state at which we accept electronic documents in the way that we accept paper currency. So long as we can check to see it is not egregiously counterfeit, we will work *as if* it is legitimate as it serves its purpose within our transaction. If person A passes a false £5 note and the person B accepts it and uses then it is possible that the false note becomes "legal" simply by its acceptance, even though it is false. Where it becomes problematic, like with records, is when the authenticity is challenged as the use is scrutinized or challenged. However, what has happened is that the currencies are so complex that counterfeiting is limited to a very small group and basic counter fraud measures are widely available to reinforce trust and discourage fraud.
Are we at that point? No. We are not even close. Will we be there in 5 years? Perhaps Will we be there in 10 years? Yes.
Where will we see it first? We will likely see this where systems are finally made secure once a secure system is developed then a foundation of stability can be exploited or developed so that other systems can be linked to it and grow from it. Then those systems become the infrastructure of trust or authenticity from which secondary or tertiary trust systems (like records management in a public authority) can develop their own systems.
Interesting times and an interesting topic.
Thanks for sharing.
Best,
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: The Information and Records Management Society mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marc Fresko
Sent: 27 August 2015 20:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FutureProofing: a future technology applicable to RM?
This is about a technology that might one day be relevant in Records Management. So stop here if you are not interested in technology.
The BBC Radio 4 programme "FutureProofing" yesterday featured an interesting technology called "blockchain" (or "Block chain"). Essentially, it is a distributed approach to storing and communicating immutable data in a way such that it cannot be disputed. It's not new - it underlies Bitcoin and similar currencies. However, what is novel is the proposition that it might be used for many other purposes that require "trust", including many sorts of record keeping. The programme suggested various applications, many of which were sheer flights of fancy that failed to recognise the difficulty of building applications, no matter how clever the underlying storage system. But the programme's assertion that many major corporations and governments are working on blockchain projects is enough to make one wonder if it might actually end up being significant.
The programme is available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b066wfp4.
Marc Fresko
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