Rarimo, an interoperability protocol for decentralizing social identity, has released a zk-based voting platform called ‘Freedom Tool’.
Freedom Tool is a citizen-run, anonymous election assistance program that allows individuals to confidentially confirm their eligibility to participate in administrative actions without publicly putting their personal information at risk.
This means that anyone can build a voting system that allows individuals or communities to express their opinions freely, without privacy concerns or fear of retaliation from authoritative regimes.
Traditional voting systems often have issues with voter credibility and provide only limited privacy for voters. Casting and counting votes is often done manually, or relies on outdated electronic systems, which are subject to errors and tampering. These issues often stem from the centralized nature of how voting is conducted, with the integrity of the process dependent on the security of only a handful of systems and entities.
Freedom Tool leverages the inherent strengths of blockchain technology as a timestamp database to securely record and publish every vote in a publicly verifiable and tamper-proof manner. It uses zero-knowledge identity management to ensure that every vote is cast by an eligible voter, without sacrificing the complete anonymity of each participant.
Users can create personalized voter profiles by scanning their mobile phone’s biometric passport information. The app then verifies the user’s credentials using zero-knowledge cryptography and issues an anonymous identity card that can be used to vote.
To ensure user privacy is maintained, only the ID card can be used to interact with the external voting settings. This means that passport information is not shared externally and that passport data remains private without going through servers.
Because all votes would be published on the blockchain, this means no one can tamper with the vote itself, and auditors can ensure no repeat or fraudulent votes take place.
“Communities are free to set their own election conditions, defining which candidates are on the ballot and who can vote. In regions where the opposition is not allowed to operate and minority groups are systematically excluded from voting, this ability will shift power back to the people,” Lasha Antadze, the co-founder of Rarilabs, told Blockworks.
Antadze notes that the Rarimo team believes the Freedom Tool will demonstrate that privacy is critical to democracy, and that it hopes this launch will dispel suspicions against the Cypherpunk movement.
“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear,” the famous saying goes. But basic human rights are being exercised in many parts of the world [like] the right to protest means that people have a lot to fear and nowhere to hide. Freedom Tool is trying to change this,” said Antadze.
Antadze explains that part of the cypherpunk promise is defending privacy, and that there is a growing blockchain community now focused on developing privacy solutions with zero-knowledge technology.
“We are proud to be part of this mission and contribute to a new version of the Internet where users can walk free from dangerous and invasive surveillance practices. The greatest gift that technology can give to humanity is liberation,” he said.
The first on-the-ground implementation of the Instrument of Freedom will start in the coming weeks. It will be an opposition app in “an Eastern European regime,” Antadze notes. He explains that this app will allow dissidents to anonymously register their opinions on various political and electoral issues through unattended petitions and polls, as well as opportunities to vote for alternative election candidates.
“This will help organize and unite citizens in their struggle for a new political system and new leaders,” he said.
Ultimately, Antadze believes the Freedom Tool will continue Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto’s goal of putting power in the hands of the people.
“Blockchain’s journey began with the separation of money and state, and we aim to extend this principle to identity, which is equally essential to individual freedom in the modern era,” he said.
He added that “the development of Freedom Tool was very horizontal, collaborative and decentralized. Many of the essential blocks were built by courageous developers working in politically unsafe environments. We cannot mention them by name, but we would like to thank them for their great contributions.”