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Sebastiaan van der Lans

On WordPress, Blockchain, Timestamps & Trust

Self-Sovereign Identities and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) for Content

A fragment from Ledger Leopard‘s webinar on Self-Sovereign Identities with Jimmy Snoek from Tykn and Sebastiaan van der Lans, WordProof‘s founder. Olivier Rikken, CEO of Ledger Leopard, hosted the webinar. We discuss Self-Sovereign Identities and Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs) for Content. See it as a certificate of birth for content, respecting its history, authors, and workflow.

  • Learn more about Self-Sovereign Identities at SSI Meetup.org. Amazing webinars by Drummond Reed and other thought leaders on decentralized identities.
  • Specifications for the Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0, the Core Data Model and its Syntaxes.
  • Check Ledger Leopard’s work on Healthcare & Identity.
  • Check Tykn, venturing in blockchain identity since 2016!
  • Here’s the WordProof pitch we gave at the European Commission, where we’re finalists for its ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ contents.
  • Here’s a full overview of the WordProof Timestamp Ecosystem.

If you are working on Self-Sovereign Identity for content too, please reach out to us as we’d love to collaborate. Any feedback on current thinking is very very welcome. Let’s fix the broken web, together!

With Self-Sovereign Identities and Decentralized Identifiers for content, a Certificate of Birth for Content can be achieved, respecting its history and workflow. All in a totally Open-Source manner.

Sebastiaan van der Lans, Founder WordProof
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansFebruary 16, 2020April 26, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Self-Sovereign Identities and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) for Content

Why would Tech Giants adopt WordProof’s Timestamp Ecosystem?

Here’s a fragment from the Q&A in Europe’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ Finalist’s Day. Frank van Dalen, partner in WordProof, answers a question on adoption: “why would tech giants adopt it?”. This post transcribes his answer, including links to relevant sources.

Why would tech giants adopt WordProof’s Timestamp Ecosystem?

Actually, it’s really a challenging question. Why would tech giants take our stuff? And let’s not be naive; they won’t, I mean:

  • They make money out of fake news;
  • They make money out of fraudulent advertisements.

They want to do it their way because they’re centralized bodies.

The Role of Regulation

We as an open-source community really have to push them into the right direction. Luckily for us, we have a lot of help from the European Union with legislation coming in, directives coming in, but still what we see on a daily basis is that those tech giants are lobbying, saying “what you’re asking is something we cannot do. You ask us to distinguish fake from real news, but how would we know? If someone tells me something about Africa or Asia, how do I know what is real and what is not real?”

This is where at timestamps come in, but timestamps as such will not be a solution either. Because where does it come from? Do we have the right tier level in place to actually know who gave it and that this individual or the organization is legit?

Tier Levels and Social Media

But how do we deal with a legit organization that is still spreading out fake news? We see that in politics happening all day long. This is where the consumer comes in and needs to be able to say like, “listen, I don’t want to see anything from this organization, even though it’s in tier level seven. I know who it is. I don’t want to see it.”

And Facebook, and other tech giants, should be able to say: “Everything below tier level three, it will be published as we are not about censorship. It will be published, but will not get distribution beyond your own list of friends.

Search Engines and Timestamps

And when it comes to Google, the search engines, how does Google know who really owns the stuff? So, what we are working on is [integration in] Schema.org. That we actually provide tools in the [search engine’s] language to fulfill their promises, to create a secure internet. Because that’s also what they promise.

Relevant: A Word on SEO, Structured Data & Content Timestamps with Blockchain

Decrease Advertising Fraud with Blockchain Timestamps and Identity

So, and about fraud. We’ve seen all those advertisements about buying Bitcoins and we are talking to people from [large media companies], where the CEO is constantly showing up in those Bitcoin fraudulent advertisements.

This is where that multi-tier level comes in, where the model in the advertisement, the advertisement agency, and the commercial is timestamped. Because only when we get created triangle, we will have a really sustainable mechanism to say like, “this is legit and this is not”.

So well, they don’t automatically [adopt], probably not. But we’ll provide them the tools to actually do so. And we’ll tell the European union they can just continue with the legislation because there are answers, even though the big [tech giants] are saying there are not.


Relevant links:

  • WordProof’s 3-minute pitch at Europe’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ Finalist’s Day.
  • Q&A: What’s WordProof’s Business Model and what’s the road to Adoption?
  • WordProof’s Timestamp Ecosystem
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansFebruary 16, 2020April 26, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Why would Tech Giants adopt WordProof’s Timestamp Ecosystem?

Q&A: What’s WordProof’s Business Model and what’s the road to Adoption?

Here’s a fragment from the Q&A in Europe’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ Finalist’s Day. Frank van Dalen, a partner in WordProof, answers a question on WordProof’s business model and the road to adoption. This post transcribes his answer, including links to relevant sources.

How do your business models allow you to build technology so that we can all feel safe?

WordProof’s business model is pretty straight forward. You can do it open source, and you can do a SaaS solution, then it does have lots of features to it. There is a free plan and there’s a paid plan, but the question is why would people actually do it?

Educating the Community

And we need to do a lot of education as a community. There’s one of the reasons why we actually had a legal expert writing a big article, a scientific article about the value of timestamps within the courtroom and that was published in the leading Dutch legal magazine. It’s just been translated to spread it throughout Europe because we have to educate.

Protect Fast and Fluid Content in Online Environments

Secondly, we talked with a really big media developing companies and what they said to us is: “We have [television formats], brands, for which we can hire a whole team of lawyers and notaries to protect our brand. But we are more and more moving towards the online environment. And this is cheap and very fluid content, but we still want to protect it and we cannot have a whole legal team. Let alone that those people are making this content and not willing to write down the concept”.

This is where they recognize the timestamping comes in [as timestamping is an affordable and open solution to achieve protection].

Solve potential Duplicated Content problems upfront

Thirdly, we have a lot of publishers who say like, “We make really great content, but sometimes even with our consent stuff was published on another, media, which is bigger”.

Guess what, Google thinks that they created it. So they are now knocking on our doors like, can you help us? And actually small matters again.

See Case-Study: How indebuurt uses WordProof Timestamp to claim ownership of their content.

WordProof shows Real-life Scalability

It’s those kinds of concepts that are driving scalability. And when it comes to the technical part of scalability, last year we did a real-life test. Can we do 100,000 timestamps within a couple of hours without systems collapsing?

We did not do it in our test environment but we went to a real media publisher and they were like, “you’re not going to ruin our system, are you? Are our readers going to notice?”. We promised them no they won’t, and they didn’t. We timestamped more than 100.000 pieces of content to show it is possible in a real-life environment.

So yeah, let’s see where we are in two years from now.


Relevant links:

  • WordProof’s 3-minute pitch at Europe’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ Finalist’s Day.
  • Q&A: Why would Tech Giants Adopt WordProof’s Timestamp Ecosystem?
  • WordProof’s Timestamp Ecosystem
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansFebruary 16, 2020April 26, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Q&A: What’s WordProof’s Business Model and what’s the road to Adoption?

3-minute WordProof Pitch at European Commission’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ 🇪🇺

WordProof is one of the 23 finalists selected out of the 178 applications received for the 5 x €1.000.000 EIC Horizon Prize on ‘Blockchains for Social Good’. Monday, February 10th, was Finalists’ Day. 23 initiatives gave a pitch and demo. Here’s the full transcript of WordProof’s pitch, presenting the impact of our solutions on social good aspects and the underlying economic model.

Continue reading “3-minute WordProof Pitch at European Commission’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ 🇪🇺”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansFebruary 12, 2020August 18, 2022Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on 3-minute WordProof Pitch at European Commission’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ 🇪🇺

Transcript: Dan Larimer on Security and Deterministic Code #fomgl

On January 31st, The Government Blockchain Association organized a summit called The Future of Money, Governance, and the Law. At this event, government leaders from around the world discussed their 2020 plans focusing on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Among Tim Draper and blockchain’s inventor Scott Stornetta, Dan Larimer was a keynote speaker. As always, his keynote was stuffed with insights, analogies, and examples.

Here’s a fully searchable transcript of his keynote and Q&A, enriched with a table of contents:

  • Security is fundamentally broken
  • Blockchain brings value, even if it’s completely private
  • Analogy: The Hacked Exchange
  • Authorizing Users and Their Actions
  • Achieving Deterministic Results without Blockchain
  • Blockchain is about Deterministic Code
  • Prove to yourself that you’re doing it right
  • Achieving Deterministic Code without a Blockchain
  • If you’re dealing with passwords, you’re doing it wrong
  • Move to a blockchain, you’ll be in trouble if you don’t
  • Blockchain allows Businesses to Communicate more Effectively

Questions and Answers:

  • Blockchain for Electronic Healthcare Records
  • Blockchain at Universities
  • Public Blockchains are Broadcasting like Radio Stations
  • Second Layer Solutions and Enterprise Adoption
  • Government’s Role in Blockchain Adoption
  • Don’t Regulate Blockchain Technology
Continue reading “Transcript: Dan Larimer on Security and Deterministic Code #fomgl”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansFebruary 1, 2020April 26, 2020Posted inContent Timestamps1 Comment on Transcript: Dan Larimer on Security and Deterministic Code #fomgl

Interview on WordPress, Mindfulness & Blockchain

Right before my talk at WordCamp Europe 2019, I had the pleasure to be interviewed by Sunita Karmacharya from DevotePress. In this article, I share a transcript with a table of contents and some valuable links on the topics we’ve discussed.

  • Mass Adoption of WordPress
  • WordPress, Open-Source, and Blockchain
  • Timestamping WordPress Content with Blockchain
  • Trust in Content and Journalism
  • Blockchain Timestamps and SEO
  • Mindfulness in the WordPress Community
  • Inclusive Funding of Open Source Software
  • Learning Blockchain Development
  • Running a Business versus Organizing a Wedding

Thank you DevotePress for the fun interview and the delicious tea, I would love to meet again at WordCamp Europe 2020!

Continue reading “Interview on WordPress, Mindfulness & Blockchain”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 29, 2020January 29, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Interview on WordPress, Mindfulness & Blockchain

Pecha Kucha at Drupal Tech Talks: Fixing the Web with Timestamps

On January 16th, 1 day after Drupal’s 19th birthday, the dutch Drupal community organized the 30th edition of Drupal Tech Talk. I had the pleasure to present a Pecha Kucha (20 slides x 20 minutes, what better way is there to start 2020?) on open-source, blockchain, and WordProof!

Firstly, here’s the video of the presentation, followed by every slide, the sentences I’ve used (in Pecha Kucha’s, I script every single line) and its source, where relevant. Enjoy!

Read further for a full transcript per slide of this Drupal Tech Talk on blockchain timestamps.

Continue reading “Pecha Kucha at Drupal Tech Talks: Fixing the Web with Timestamps”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 21, 2020January 22, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Pecha Kucha at Drupal Tech Talks: Fixing the Web with Timestamps

16 Powerful eCommerce Stats & the Impact of Blockchain Timestamps

Firstly, I found this list of powerful eCommerce statistics to guide your strategy. Then I added stats on disputes in eCommerce, which I found through WordProof’s participation in Europe’s Blockchains for Social Good contest. Lastly, I enhanced the relevant stats with what impact blockchain will have on them.

After the stats, I dive deeper into how timestamping eCommerce content and orders can drastically reduce disputes between buyers and sellers. Accordingly, timestamps will improve eCommerce as a whole.

  1. 3 to 5% of the 38.5 billion e-commerce transactions per year, end in a dispute, roughly 155 million a year;
  2. It’s estimated that there will be 2.05 billion global digital buyers in 2020;
  3. The number one reason people shop online is that they’re able to shop at all hours of the day;
  4. 65 percent of shoppers look up price comparisons on their mobile device while in a physical store;
  5. 85 percent of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase online;
  6. 81 percent of consumers trust the advice of friends and family over businesses;
  7. 80 percent of people stop doing business with a company because of poor customer experience;
  8. Consumers are most likely to trust a business that makes it easy to contact people at the company;
  9. On average, only 2.86 percent of eCommerce website visits convert into a purchase;
  10. 69 percent of shopping carts are abandoned;
  11. Unexpected extra costs are the number one reason shoppers abandon carts;
  12. Abandoned cart follow-up emails have an average open rate of 45 percent;
  13. Nearly half (48 percent) of online shoppers simply head straight to a large e-commerce marketplace;
  14. Mobile e-commerce is expected to account for 67.2 percent of digital sales in 2019;
  15. Users who have a negative experience on a mobile website are 62 percent less likely to purchase from that business in the future;
  16. Longer mobile page load times drastically increase bounces.
Continue reading “16 Powerful eCommerce Stats & the Impact of Blockchain Timestamps”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 18, 2020November 26, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on 16 Powerful eCommerce Stats & the Impact of Blockchain Timestamps

Transcript: Brendan Blumer at DC Blockchain Summit

Brendan Blumer of Block.one discusses the state of the blockchain ecosystem and its effect on government, regulation, and digital commerce at the Washington DC Blockchain Summit, hosted by The Chamber of Digital Commerce and Georgetown University’s Center for Financial Markets and Policy on March 6-7, 2019.

As it’s full of valuable quotes (like many of his talks), I wrote this searchable transcript, including a table of content:

  • What is blockchain, and why is it important today?
  • What’s the difference between Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies? 
  • Blockchain for Government
  • The Effect of Blockchain on National Security and Military
  • Blockchain Mass adoption
    • Blockchain is Putting a Monetization Model around Open Source Communities
    • The Blockchain Alternative to Facebook
  • Example: An Insurance Company on the Blockchain
  • Retail Banking and Blockchain
  • Influencer Marketing and Blockchain
  • Can Bitcoin fix Hyperinflation?
  • The Role of Blockchain in Cybersecurity
  • What’s Beyond Blockchain?
  • Performance in Distributed Systems
  • Governance in Inter-blockchain Communication
Continue reading “Transcript: Brendan Blumer at DC Blockchain Summit”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 7, 2020July 16, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Brendan Blumer at DC Blockchain Summit

Transcript: Terry Shane – “By 2025, IoT exceeds 100 Billion Devices”

It’s estimated that by 2025, there will be 100 Billion global IoT devices, sending data and transferring value in the new Machine-to-Machine reality. As everything becomes a “smart device” in the coming Economy of Things, what will be the underlying protocol that makes this all work?

I found this presentation by Terry Shane at the end of 2018. Although I’m not actively following the IOTA project, I really like the automotive future and use-cases he explained in this presentation on the Internet of Things and Distributed Ledger Technology.

Here’s a table of content of the presentation, I especially loved the data-part and the automotive example:

  • Predicting the Future
  • The Next Generation Distributed Ledger beyond Blockchain
  • By 2025, IoT will exceed 100 Billion Connected Devices
  • Data is the New Oil
  • The Blockchain Bottleneck
  • The Tangle was developed for the Internet of Things
  • Overcoming the limitations of Blockchain
  • Use-case: Autonomous Economic Agents (automotive example)
  • IOTA as the Settlement Network for Transportation
  • Radical Business Model Innovation
  • The bIOTAspere Co-Creation Lab
Continue reading “Transcript: Terry Shane – “By 2025, IoT exceeds 100 Billion Devices””
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 5, 2020January 5, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Terry Shane – “By 2025, IoT exceeds 100 Billion Devices”

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