[OpenTRV-dev] Blockchain for anti-tamper and non-repudiatiot of valuable IoT data

[Damon Hart-Davis]

Hi Adrian!

> The same should be true of personal data. Someone who places a device in our homes is obtaining access to the data, but we need to be very careful what we say about it. I, personally, want a monitoring company to tell me exactly what data they are using and what they are using it for. I will then choose what data they get, and will trust the analysis they provide in return in accordance with the accuracy of the data I gave them. They shouldn't have the opportunity to know what filtering I wish to use to limit their knowledge of me.

My view is that users should own their data and should be able to choose who gets to see it and what they can do with it.  My previous startup worked to make that true also, though in the end we narrowed to virtual credit cards as a key subset of what others could know about your financially...  This blockchain stuff is orthogonal.

(I see people blatently lie and claim that I’ve permitted this and that use of my data and then it’s out in the field and difficult to do anything about, but the principle remains.)

So OpenTRV domestic heating data is less likely to fall within this ‘legally important’ remit; I have corporate data, eg health and safety, in mind, for the Launchpad project.

> There may be applications such as the one you describe where the data must be reliable or it is useless. But tamper-proof transport isn't sufficient. It needs tamper-proof sensors, tamper-proof attachment to the product, and tamper-proof analysis of the results. There is a danger that the tamper-proof data transport  will be seen as also providing tamper-proof data, but the transport cannot provide that. It's a necessary but not sufficient condition for reliable access to the data. 

Absolutely, all steps in the chain have to be trustworthy and intact; this is addressing the long-term storage element.  The AES-GCM work is addressing the element from sensor to concentrator for example.

Rgds

Damon