ZorroSign CEO Provides Virtual Briefing for Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
Hadi, a renown expert on blockchain technology, has provided testimony to Congress over the past two years on how blockchain technology can help better secure elections, dramatically enhance data privacy and help small businesses streamline and better secure digital transactions.
“I was honored to have the opportunity to brief the staff of the Select Committee on the many ways in which blockchain technology can help Congress modernize its operations,” said Hadi. “Blockchain technology can improve and better secure a wide range of Congressional transactions that currently are being done with paper or just recently digitized.”
The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress Committee was established by the U.S. House of Representatives in January of 2019 and is tasked to investigate, study, make findings, hold public hearings, and develop recommendations to make Congress more effective, efficient, and transparent on behalf of the American people. The Select Committee is one of the only truly bipartisan committees in Congress, with an equal number of Republican and Democratic members. The Select Committee is chaired by Congressman Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and the Vice Chair is Congressman William Timmons (R-SC). In October of 2020, the Select Committee released a public report which details 97 recommendations and the committee’s research, conversations with experts, staff and Members throughout the last two years. You can read the full report here.
In his briefings, Hadi pointed to a February 2019 paper issued by the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) noted that because blockchain “…is tamper resistant and the blocks are timestamped, a blockchain is a robust solution to prove the existence of a specific asset at a certain time during the product lifecycle” and “a safe way to track both the existence and ownership of a digital asset at a certain time.”
Hadi emphasizes the central importance of a technology like blockchain in helping Congress to modernize precisely because blockchain has unique qualities that set it apart from other transaction database management systems. Ultimately, blockchain technology helps make digital transactions more secure, faster and less expensive.
One of the conclusions of the February 2019 NIST paper was that “Due to its tampering resistance, blockchain is an ideal candidate to record and secure data exchanges.” Hadi said that “as someone who has spent the better part of my career working on and with blockchain, I wholeheartedly agree with NIST’s conclusion.”
Hadi pointed out that “blockchain technology can easily and seamlessly be employed to streamline, secure and expedite any Congressional transaction that requires a signature — the submission of legislation, amendments, list of cosponsors, lobbyist registration forms, lobbyist quarterly reports, the monthly Members Representational Allowance form and any payment vouchers. In addition, official correspondence between Members, federal agencies and constituents, can also safely be digitized using blockchain technology. Most important, with tokenization, blockchain is perhaps the most effective way to not only protect the identity of Members and those interacting with Congress, but also provide an easy and highly secure way to verify users.”
Hadi pointed out that “blockchain can greatly enhance the security and reliability of digital transactions that require a signature. Blockchain now allows for digital signature solutions that are recognized by all global Certifying Authorities, which use a cryptographic technique that helps secure the signed document and the data that is associated with it.”
Hadi further explained how blockchain technology can prominently upgrade online security by allowing for the employment of a passwordless log-in. “Of course, other technologies exist that allow for the digitization of these processes,” said Hadi. “But only blockchain technology can provide a clear audit trail and a clear transaction ledger that is immutable. In short, blockchain can provide the highest level of security for every kind of Congressional transaction.”
The final issue touched on by Hadi in his briefings was that of mobile voting. “The covid-19 crisis underscored the need for Congress to consider situations in which Members of Congress are not able to travel to Washington, DC to vote on the House floor or at committee markups and hearings. This problem is real and it is not going away,” said Hadi.
Hadi asserted that “Blockchain technology can easily be employed to provide Congress with a highly secure, reliable and efficient way for Members to vote remotely — either on votes in the House or at the subcommittee and committee level. With the use of blockchain technology, a mobile voting system can be developed and easily deployed that would prevent the unauthorized view/review of votes and ensure unbroken chain-of-custody of an individual Member’s vote and provide a clear audit trail for every single remote vote taken by a Member of Congress.”
Hadi concluded that “If Congress is serious about developing a viable continuity of government plan, then a mobile voting system for Members needs to be developed. And blockchain needs to be an integral part of that system.” According to Hadi, “in implementing and installing new digital technologies, the Congress needs to make sure that wherever possible, vendors are utilizing blockchain technology.”
About ZorroSign
ZorroSign, Inc. is a leader in digital signature technology and the global provider of ZorroSign DTM—a secure platform delivering digital signature and digital transaction management. ZorroSign’s patented 4n6 (“forensics”) technology offers post-execution fraud detection, verification and authentication of legally binding electronic signatures, digital signatures and documents using proprietary blockchain tokenization. ZorroSign DTM streamlines end-to-end digital transactions with bank-grade protection and security certificates that never expire—allowing governments, corporations, and individuals to eSign documents, request signatures on documents and forms, build workflows, automate approval processes, and more leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence. For more information, visit www.zorrosign.com.
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