Verifying the safety of infant formula using the blockchain

Re:Verifying the safety of infant formula using the blockchain by redcalx on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @10:55AM (#15862023)

As I understand it, the central point is that the audit log is tamper proof. E.g. consider what happens in the event that Chinese government officials followed a trail, found the culprits, and discovered a scam orchestrated by a high ranking government official. There is the possibility of conveniently destroying the audit and/or modifying it to implicate some innocent party.

If the audit is hashed and the hashes placed on the/a blockchain, then the audit cannot be modified without it becoming obvious.

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Re:Verifying the safety of infant formula using the blockchain by UncleMeat on Thursday December 07, 2017 @12:20PM (#15871850)

Is tamper proof that much better than just being auditable? If you can detect tampering don't you achieve the same thing?

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Re:Verifying the safety of infant formula using the blockchain by redcalx on Friday December 08, 2017 @09:10AM (#15878688)

Depends what you mean by auditable.

Not only is the blockchain tamper proof but it is also a public record. So with traditional audit trails even if there are multiple copies you could still have the government seize or modify all copies. With the blockchain any such attempt at a cover up just isn't possible - once you've chosen to publish data publically and in a tamper prof way that suppresses calls of 'fake news!'.

So in that respect the choice to use the the blockchain can be seen as a genuine attempt to prevent corruption rather than paying lip service.

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