FUTURE OF WORK
DECaDE researchers study the role of identity and reputation in the decentralised workplace.
The team will explore how Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) can help Al model trainers collaborate on model training, extracting value from privately held data without compromising on privacy. This will require new advances in self-sovereign identity, in federated learning and in the understanding of the design space and of value creation in the future decentralised workplace.
By looking at ways to recognise contributions to voluntary work through tokenised mechanisms, DECaDE researchers will develop ways to discover data (for example search for images and NFTs) on decentralised systems to extract value through greater data fluidity without comprising on data privacy.
The team explores how Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) can help AI model trainers collaborate on model training, extracting value from privately held data without compromising on privacy. This requires new advances in self-sovereign identity, in federated learning and in the understanding of the design space and of value creation in the future decentralised workplace.
Research Highlights
Self-Sovereign Identity in the future workplace.
DECaDE investigates the role of digital identity schemes in the future decentralised digital economy. Identity is at the foundation of the gig economy, underpinning platforms that enable freelancers and independent contractors to offer services, manage the work they take on, and grow their reputations.
With Self Sovereign Identity (SSI), individuals are not dependent on any third-party platforms to manage their identity and associated credentials. They obtain credentials issued by trusted organisations, so that the credentials are entirely under their own control without any further involvement of the issuer. They can manage which aspects of those credentials to disclose while keeping other information private, underpinning trust in the profiles they publish.
DECaDE is prototyping decentralised technologies that aims to;
- give subjects agency over managing their reputation across their portfolio of work
- the ability to port their credentials from one platform to another
- maintain and aggregate records including qualifications and testimonials from multiple sources.
Using Self-Sovereign Identity to control privacy
DECaDE explores the use of self-sovereign identity (SSI) in enabling individuals to share images while still preserving their privacy and rights over content. While professional photographers are keen to be associated with their work, other users such as citizen journalists or activists might want to create and publicise pictures while still protecting their identity.
SSI will enable verification of credentials without the need to reveal the identity of the wallet holder, through the use of Zero-Knowledge Proofs. DECaDE researchers have developed a proof-of-concept implementation using the Hyperledger Aries technology stack, for privacy-preserving image sharing developed as a new case for self-sovereign identity technology.
This implementation, in line with our decentralised approach, does not rely on any third-party organisation to broker the relationship between the producer and the consumer. This gives the content authors control over their privacy without the need to trust any external parties; while ensuring they can be recognised as the creator of their content.
Responses to public consultation on digital assets and identity.
The need for better regulation of the decentralised digital economy has now been realised by legislators in the UK and Europe alike. Often running alongside similar initiatives to regulate AI, the last three years have seen a plethora of government consultations, white papers and legislative proposals.
DECaDE submitted responses on consultations by the Law Commission of England and Wales on ownership of digital assets, and the legal treatment of Decentralised Autonomous Organisation’s (DAO), and to the UK Government consultation on Consultation on draft legislation to support identity verification decentralised ID management to access.
Our points to the consultation included;
- any legislative reform should not close the doors prematurely on ownership regimes for in-game digital assets.
- any legislative reform should not accidentally privilege technological solutions that are particularly environmentally harmful over functionally equivalent approaches.
- benefits could come from incentivising a more experimental and flexible approach to the design and legal recognition of a new class of “ownership technologies”.
The draft Bill that the Law Commission has now put out for further consultations is consistent with our recommendations and addresses many of the concerns that we raised.
