Introduction

Proof-of-personhood

Proof-of-personhood (PoP) is an innovative concept aimed at creating fairer and more democratic systems within digital and blockchain-based environments. This approach seeks to address a fundamental challenge in online communities and decentralized systems: ensuring that each participant represents a unique individual, rather than allowing users to have disproportionate influence through multiple accounts or bots. By verifying the uniqueness of each participant without necessarily revealing their identity, proof-of-personhood ensures that each person has an equal say or share in the system, promoting equity and fairness.

The motivation behind PoP is to counteract the common issues of Sybil attacks, where an individual pretends to be many users to gain undue advantage or disrupt systems, and to provide a foundation for democratic decision-making in digital organizations, such as DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), voting systems, and resource allocation in blockchain networks.

Proof-of-personhood can rely on various mechanisms to verify individuality, ranging from biometric verification to the use of social trust networks or even physical tokens distributed at in-person meetups. The goal is not to collect or centralize personal data but to certify that each token or credential represents a unique, living person. This way, PoP systems aim to balance privacy with the necessity of individual verification, striving to empower users in digital platforms and blockchain ecosystems by ensuring equal representation and participation rights.

As this concept continues to evolve, it promises to bring profound changes to the way we think about identity, privacy, and democracy in the digital age, offering a path towards more equitable and participatory digital communities.

Pileum's approach to PoP

Pileum introduces a proof-of-personhood mechanism that leverages the secure foundation of the french electronic national ID card.

By employing zero-knowledge cryptography directly in the user's browser, Pileum generates a unique identifier for each individual. This technique ensures that the actual identity of users remains private, as no personal identity data is disclosed or transmitted during the verification process.