Blockchain-powered evidence tester granted patent

For The Record will be the first court record recording company in its industry to adopt blockchain

Earlier this week, a patent was granted for a blockchain-powered recording verification system for legal proceedings.

The project was created by For The Record (FTR), a company specialising in recording court proceedings. The firm was one of the first to use digitised records in the industry, and now FTR is innovating by introducing blockchain to its product.

Over the past 25 years, FTR has ensured the accuracy and legitimacy of its recordings. The adoption of blockchain will likely solidify its present reputation.

Blockchain is a decentralised ledger that encrypts and distributes its information across the network as a whole. These ledgers act as verification tools, cross-checking if the requested audio is authentic and true to the original.

Furthermore, because the blockchain is close to immutable, any unauthorised alterations will be corrected (or at least detected), since the same ledger exists on every single computer participating in the blockchain.

The only way to alter anything without permission is to do so with hundreds, maybe millions, of machines simultaneously — a virtually impossible feat.

Expert insights

Tony Douglass, the president of FTR, shared his concern on the current state of the recording industry, where records could easily be falsified due to the widespread use of digital technology.

He stated:

“As digital audio and video proliferate across all areas of justice and public safety, so do concerns around the manipulation of that media as editing technology becomes more accessible and capable”

Douglass then explained how blockchain could be the best solution,

“All levels of justice will need safeguards in place to ensure the integrity of original source recordings and blockchain provides a unique ability to immediately identify if recordings have been altered.”

FTR is a prominent figure in the industry, with 30,000 digital recorders installed in over 62 countries, holding over 20 million hours of audio. The enormous amount of data will find a new home for safekeeping on the FTR blockchain ecosystem.

Blockchain adoption is growing

Blockchain has proven itself to be an extremely malleable and flexible technology. Many companies are using it to track the movement of goods, as well as making sure that valuable data is secured against any sort of accidental loss, or tampering.

In recent years, there has been widespread adoption of blockchain technology across a multitude of industries, as more use-cases come to light. The use of blockchain to safely store legal proceedings is another example of how blockchain can help to ensure data fidelity.