XX Network Delivers Worldcoin Network Anonymizer Application

During the early part of August 2024, the XX Network team headed up by Rick Carback completed and presented one of the three grant projects awarded by the Worldcoin Foundation which utilises XX Network technology.

The Network Traffic Anonymizer was something the Worldcoin Foundation had specifically made a request for to enhance the level of privacy for people using applications that talk to their services. The XX Network’s cMixx network was a natural shoe-in as an established and proven network privacy layer, containing David Chaum’s cMix technology conceived and developed over multiple decades.

Rick and his team spent several months creating a Rust implementation for using cMixx and updated parts of the xxDK (XX Network’s Development Kit) to suit. A demo Webapp was then created which shows an interaction with a World-tree server over cMixx, pushing an identity commitment and receiving a zero-knowledge proof of personhood in response.

You can access the demo here and see the slides which were used in the presentation below which describes the process undertaken in the project.

When speaking to Rick, he told me:

“The purpose of our project was to protect communication between Worldcoin clients (agents) with their servers (services). Inclusion proofs are proofs that show this is a real identity on the network in a privacy preserving way, so when you add XX to that you get a short proof from the client + an ID to look up and then you can verify that the individual you are talking to is backed by a real person who has had their eye scanned by the orb.

This integration allows someone to prove that to you without you learning about their Worldcoin client in a way that would identify them.

So you know they’re a person, but not which specific Worldcoin person record it is. And, with XX, you can’t attach a Worldcoin record to a specific client ID / IP address, etc. That enables anonymous service but limits it to real people.”

The closeout presentation slides to the Worldcoin Foundation are below:

XX Network Network Anonymizer Download

As a result of this project, Worldcoin are now able to provide this implementation of XX Network privacy protection to any developers of applications interacting with their services. The Worldcoin project has been keen to assure the public that they are taking privacy extremely seriously, and this integration adds a crucial layer for metadata protection, over and above any other project in the space. It reasserts the fact that in a future where proving being a human online is down to the individual holding the keys, eliminating the tracking of our interactions with such services is paramount.

The stripping of metadata in this context is an opportunity for people to retain control, especially in the most sensitive exchanges of data, and to stop the dystopian creep of companies, institutions and governments harvesting our online activity en masse to exploit us in multiple ways. It helps pave the way for a less surveilled and more democratic digital life.

More details of this integration being used may emerge down the line when announced by Worldcoin.

Two more grant projects for Worldcoin are still underway – VoteXX and Zanzibar (or cMixx+), both of which are crucial tools for the future where individuals are proving their humanity but retaining their privacy. The original interview with Mario goes into more detail on those.