Web3 Privacy Tools for Civic and Social Advocacy
Lobby3 Gets to Know its Anons
Today, Lobby3 will begin testing KYA (know-your-anon) zero knowledge technology to prove the residence of DAO members engaging in US political advocacy and supporting election campaigns. KYA is made possible by Holonym, a zero knowledge cloak that powers identity verification of internet users without revealing private sensitive information. Check it out at https://app.holonym.id/verify Continue reading below to learn how Holonym is innovating in zero knowledge identity technology.
Digital Civic Engagement on the Decentralized Web
How does Web3 fit into a world of Web2 compliance and regulations? Where does the Web3 “anon” fit into open civil discourse and the need for accountability required by our traditional institutions? These questions are at the top of the mind for Lobby3 DAO, a political advocacy organization established by Andrew Yang’s Humanity Forward Foundation.
Lobby3 is a pioneer Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) established to demonstrate blockchain technology for public and technology policy through civic-engagement with congressional lawmakers. The DAO has taken on Humanity Forward’s mandate to pursue policy reform and technological innovation that directly leads to greater financial inclusion through decentralization and direct action. Lobby3’s plans to accomplish this mission in the following way:
- Build Advocacy Infrastructure. Lobby3 will fund issue-based advocacy organizations in DC to build core advocacy infrastructure.
- Policy Maker Education. Lobby3’s partners will work to educate lawmakers in Congress and across the country on the positive impacts of Web3.
- Pilot Program. The advocacy team will establish partnerships with state and city leaders across the US to run Web3 pilot programs that address poverty, financial inclusion, and create greater financial opportunities for marginalized communities.
- Lobby3 DAO. The Lobby3 DAO will be established once key infrastructure, such as secure digital voting, is in place. The DAO will vote on policy ideas, community priorities, and where DAO funds should be used.
Web3 Coordination for Political Collective Action
As a DAO, Lobby3 runs differently from traditional congressional lobbying firms or political advocacy organizations. Membership is open to anyone in the world that purchases the Lobby3 Non-Fungible Token (NFT), granting the owner access to communications, voting platforms, and access to events. A key challenge for Lobby3 is achieving compliance, trust, and transparency as a politically-active digital organization within the US while remaining true to principles of decentralization, privacy, and internet freedom. Digital political engagement systems can be enhanced through Web3 tools for verifying claims and user credentials to prevent spam and facilitate discourse.
Holonym is an identity protocol that enables members to prove their affiliations and credentials, while remaining in ownership of their data, an important component of Lobby3 as a testbed for civic digital tooling.
Holonym provides a fundamental privacy layer that empowers citizens to participate in safe public spaces on the internet while preserving security and ownership of their data. In the future, Lobby3 may even explore how a privacy-preserving civic-engagement wallet may empower voting, political engagement, and digital advocacy. For example, Sybil resistance via Holonym can unlock one-person-one-vote or universal basic income for internet users.
Digital Advocacy Requires Regulatory Compliance
As a lobbying organization, special regulations and compliance requirements apply to Lobby3 that, at first-glance, may clash with Web3 decentralization and privacy principles. Anyone around the world can become a Lobby3 member and participate in activities that influence US policy or public sentiment. This is an issue for the DAO if it ever needs to prove that certain actions were the result of legal activities by US citizens, either for compliance or for public transparency. So a rigorous and privacy-preserving ID system is a Day 1 must-have.
- The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires “Foreign agents or lobbyists that act on behalf of a ‘foreign principal’ (governments, parties, entities, or individuals) to influence US policy, trade, tourism, or other public opinion are required to register with the DoJ under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).”
- The Federal Election Campaign Act (52 U.S.C. § 30121, 11 CFR 110.20) prohibits foreign nationals from 1) making any contribution, donation, expenditure, disbursement in connection with any federal, state, or local election, 2) making any contribution or donation to any committee or organization of any national, state, district, or local political party, 3) making any disbursement for an electioneering communication, 4) making any donation to a presidential inaugural committee.
To address these laws, Lobby3 is exploring how pseudonymous members can present a private proof of residence. This proof must preserve the privacy of the individual, meaning no leaking of identifying information, but must also pass rigor for residence verification.
Holos are Zero Knowledge Visas for Web3
Holonym has completed a pilot project to help Lobby3 overcome these challenges and demonstrate tangible real-world use-cases for cryptography in digital governance and coordination. Holonym is a zero-knowledge passport that allows individuals to verify their real world credentials, and produce proofs of claims about them without revealing more information than needed. This partnership aims to tackle reporting requirements while maintaining member privacy.
Holonym accomplishes verification of off-chain credentials using Vouched, a service that allows users to verify their identity or residence using government ID, phone number/email, or social security number. Information from these documents is verified against databases managed by identity authorities. Vouched will eventually be just one of many options because Holonym’s architecture is decentralized, allowing anyone to create and add a credential verifier to the protocol.
Holonym Identity Proofs in Action
The application is live now at https://app.holonym.id and just requires the installation of a browser extension to get started. Early users will be critical for contributing to the anonymity strength of the privacy pool, where each new user increases the difficulty for brute-force attacks on the anonymity set. Support privacy in Web3 by minting your Holo now! Walkthrough appears below:
Looking Forward
The power of zero knowledge technology is just beginning to be understood. Holonym was built to enable privacy by default on the internet for all users. Our team is eager to collaborate with DAOs that require on-chain privacy but are seeking solutions for Sybil resistance, private non-coercive voting mechanisms, and compliance with regulators to expand operations outside of Web3.
Jump into the Privacy Pool!
Does the fight for privacy on the internet resonate with you? Would you like to be an early adopter of cutting edge zero knowledge technology in web3? Consider signing up for our private beta, joining our discord, or perusing our white paper.
More information can be found on our documentation at https://holonym.gitbook.io/holonym-alpha/
