https://www.wired.co.uk/event/wired-money-2016
Distributed ledgers can stop self-driving cars from being hacked and having their internal systems exploited, the government's chief scientific adviser has said.
Sir Mark Walport, speaking at the WIRED Money conference in London argued that shared ledgers can improve "inconsistent data technology in government" and help to protect the internet of things.
"One thing you don't need is for your autonomous vehicle to be tampered with," he said. "In an autonomous car a distributed ledger can be used to protect against compromise of the sensors."
Distributed ledgers, which are underlined by the blockchain and are used in bitcoin transactions, are a record of data and assets that are shared across a network. For bitcoin, this means a publicly available list of transactions made using the cryptocurrency.
Walport explained that having a centralised system that is monitored by a distributed ledger allows technologists to see whether the systems underpinning an autonomous vehicle, or device that's connected to the internet, have been tampered with.
In January, Walport was involved in a government review that suggested the blockchain approach can be "modified" to allow governments to use smart contracts and digital signatures.
"Distributed ledger technologies have the potential to help governments collect taxes, deliver benefits, issue passports, record land registries, assure the supply chain of goods and generally ensure the integrity of government records and services," the report concluded.
Speaking at the conference at the British Museum, the government data scientist said the technology has the potential to be able to "deliver public services more effectively".
For politicians and civil servants to be able to bring the technology – as well as other emerging forms of tech – to be used in the real-world, Walport says there needs to be a phased introduction. It can't be used for a population of 65 million people without small scaling testing.
The government can help across eight main areas. For example, Walport says officials can help to analyse the value of new technologies, create test beds to roll the technology out, and prepare for the wider growing demand. As well as these, the government can create regulators, create standards that are shared, help innovation by financing schemes and startups to develop technologies further.
When a technology is ready to be used on a mass scale, Walport says the government can contract out services and scale-up development of proven technologies. But it must be safe.
"Distributed ledger technology can help to ensure the security of an asset and ensure it hasn't been tampered with," he said.
Security of the ledgers is crucial for their adoption both within government and through other organisations as well. The sharing has to be "secure" to allow the data and financial transactions of individuals and business to be shared, he said.
This applies to both autonomous cars and governments.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
