Towards a Multi-party, Blockchain-Based Identity Verification Solution to Implement Clear Name Laws for Online Media Platforms

Abstract

Online communication has increased steadily over the past decades. It has become common practice that the identities of content creators do not have to be revealed. The use of abbreviations or pseudonyms is a de facto standard in online communities. Real identities are hidden behind these and protocol-based identifiers such as Internet Protocol Addresses are difficult to assign to real persons. Due to the increase of fake news and hate postings, the obligatory use of “real names” has been and still is discussed worldwide. In some countries, a “clear name” respectively “real name” obligation has been implemented or such laws are in the process of being implemented. One example is South Korea which gained international fame in 2007 as a “clear name” obligation has been introduced by law. The law was repealed shortly afterward. In Germany, the “Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz 2017” was passed. In Austria, a draft of the “Bundesgesetz über Sorgfalt und Verantwortung im Netz” (SVN-G) was submitted for review in 2019. Newspaper platforms and large corporations such as Twitter or Google would be affected by the obligation to use “clear names”. The architecture drafted in the SVN-G was analyzed by us and numerous weak points were identified. Thus, we propose a significantly improved architecture as well as an implementation outline using blockchain-based identity providers.