"A speculative design project that innovatively explores digital identity and bio-data encryption, presented as part of the IBM Quantum Design Jam initiative."
Speculative Design
Premise: Our digital identity is usually lack of connection to the physical identity, yet our physical identity information (biometrics) could be vulnerable on the Internet.We propose that Quantum Cryptography has the power to replace modern encryption and safeguard future sensitive data as we enter Web3.Our approach is to encrypt our biometrics using both quantum cryptography and visual representation, allowing us to extend our one-of-a-kind identity in the metaverse
Oct, 2022 1 weeks
Touch Designer, IBM Qiskit Toolkit, Phython, After Effect, Blender, Mixamo
Ideation, Visual Desin, 3D Modeling, Visual Prototyper, Animation
3
About the Challenge
The Quantum Design Jam, hosted by The New School Innovation Center in collaboration with the IBM Skills Academy and IBM Quantum team, marked a pioneering initiative. It united designers from The Parsons School of Design with experts in IBM Quantum technologies.
This unique event centered around two primary themes: Art & Design and Music, with a profound exploration of the convergence between the creative arts and quantum physics.
Learning Process
Quantum computing is a rapidly-emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics, like entanglement, superposition, etc. to solve problems too complex for classical computers.
Quantum cryptography is a method of encryption that uses the naturally occurring properties of quantum mechanics to secure and transmit data in a way that cannot be hacked. The one method we learned is called Quantum Key Distribution.
Quantum Key Distribution is based on the principles of quantum physics not mathematics. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution. In QKD a quantum key is generated by modifying the properties of photons. It implements a cryptographic protocol that makes use of the fact that measuring a qubit can change its state. The QKD setup has a transmitter (Alice) and a receiver (Bob). Alice dispatches encoded photons on a dedicated quantum channel, while bob decodes these photons using a single photon detector. Both the devices run a series of tests to ensure that encoded photons weren’t tampered with in route. Only after the authentication is complete, a quantum key derived. Transimitter Alice then encrypts the data using this key and send it over a standard communication chanel to Bob, who then uses the quantum key to decrypt the data.
While a hacker can still intercept the quantum encrypted information and clone it, the absence of a quantum key makes the information secure. Any attempt to eavesdrop the quantum Channel would change the quantum state of photons, leaving the chance to detect an intrusion and stop the interception.
Implementation Process
We studied quantum cryptography, key distribution, and quantum circuit from the Qiskit Textbook. Also, we found a limited number of qubits we could demonstrate on the quantum composer, so we used python and were able to follow the steps to generate a shared security key. Then used the key to encrypt our biometric data, in this case, a set of binary fingerprint data. The encoded data became the material to build the patterns for garments.
Design
As for visual reference, we are inspired by Rei Kawakubo and Iris Van Herpen’s work. We admire the free-form and unconventional designs that we believe could empower us to be whoever we want. And that is what we want to bring to the metaverse.
Prototyping
We use Mixamo to apply animation to our 3D digital fashion model, and uploaded the encrypted binary biodata we generated to Touch Designer and mapped it on our digital garment to create digital patterns. We explored different forms and colors as we explored the extendibility of one's identity.
