🛒 E-commerce & Privacy - Myth or Reality? 🔐
🛒 E-commerce & Privacy - Myth or Reality? 🔐 💻 Online shopping without revealing your personal data? 🚀 Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), zkLocus and Mina Protocol blockchain enable just that https://illya.sh/blog/posts/privacy-is-a-myth-without-zero-knowledge-proofs/ Here's how 🧵👇
🔍 The challenge with e-commerce privacy lies in two main areas: 1️⃣ Keeping search queries private 🔒 2️⃣ Protecting personal info like name and address 🙅♂️ Traditional platforms require us to trust them with this data
💰 Wether you are online shopping on Amazon, eBay, AliExpress or any other e-commerce platform, you are sharing your personal data with them. 🤔 But does it have to be this way? ✨ Is a fully private online shopping experience possible?
❗️Yes, and Zero-Knowledge Proofs are the answer❗️ 📜 Instead of sharing raw data, ZKP allow us to share proofs about our data 🤯 Now, you can search for products to buy without revealing your exact queries!
🧩 Here's how private search queries work: 1️⃣ User runs a zkML computation to abstract their query 2️⃣ The abstracted query is sent to the e-commerce platform 3️⃣ Platform returns relevant results, which are filtered locally by the user
🕵️♀️ Such an approach allows us to search for data with a centralized provider without revealing our exact search queries 🔎 In the end, the provider has enough information to provide us with relevant results, without being able to track us
👀 Private search quries are great, but can we go a step further? 🪪 Is it possible to shop online without revealing any of your identity and shipping data to the e-commerce platform? 🤯 The answer is YES!
🔐 How can we conceal personal info like name and address? 📍This is where zkLocus comes in! 🌍 zkLocus allows users to prove they're in a certain area without revealing exact coordinates 🏠 It's like saying "I'm somewhere in New York" without revealing your exact address
🎁 Here's how zkLocus enables private shipping: 1️⃣ You creates a zkLocus proof of their location 2️⃣ Proof is associated with encrypted name & address 3️⃣ E-commerce platform gets general area, but not exact info 4️⃣ Package is sent to a processing center in the general area 5️⃣👇
5️⃣ You provide the decryption key to the center to reveal address 📦 The package then gets shipped & delivered to the user
🔐 Throughout this process, your name and address remain hidden from the e-commerce platform. 😌 🌍 The platform only knows a broad area, not your specific location 🪪 The processing center only gets your exact info when you choose to reveal it
🟣 This entire solution can be implemented on Mina Protocol blockchain! 💪 💻 $MINA's zkApps enable efficient, scalable and verifiable computation powered by zkSNARKs 📍 Combined with zkLocus for geolocation proofs, we have all of the necessary components
🔗 The process leverages several ZKP building blocks: ⚙️ zkSNARKs for succinct, verifiable proofs 🌿 Merkle Trees for efficient data storage 🔐 Cyrptographic Commitments for data integrity
🛡️ The result is an e-commerce platform that respects end-user privacy without sacrificing functionality 🎉 ❌ There is no need to trade personal data for convenience 🙌 ZKP, Mina Protocol blockchain and zkLocus enable us to have both!
👉 Learn more about Zero-Knowledge Proofs, their applications, and how they redefine privacy: 📍 zkLocus: https://zklocus.dev/ 📖 Full article: https://illya.sh/blog/posts/privacy-is-a-myth-without-zero-knowledge-proofs/ 💜 Let's build a Web3 future where privacy is the default, not an afterthought