In the face of the epidemic, how can blockchain improve the ability to govern according to law?

The pneumonia outbreak of the new coronavirus (2019-nCov) unfortunately began in Wuhan, and the nationwide effort to fight against the epidemic, but many deficiencies were also exposed in the process. This involves a major public event governance approach and is a social problem. Can the blockchain improve the ability to govern major public events in accordance with the law?

On the afternoon of February 5th, President Xi hosted the third meeting of the Central Committee for the Comprehensive Management of the Law and delivered an important speech. He emphasized that, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, the safety of the people's lives and physical health must always be given top priority, and efforts should be made from all aspects of legislation, law enforcement, justice, and law compliance to comprehensively improve the ability to prevent, control and govern according to law. Provide strong legal protection for epidemic prevention and control.

In the face of major public events, challenges have been raised in decision-making efficiency, resource deployment, and information disclosure. We need to have an efficient emergency response mechanism, a flat, atomized mechanism that gives grassroots institutions more decision-making authority to take Measures can make more use of popular power in the face of crisis. However, this will expose an original question: what if someone spreads rumors and takes advantage of opportunities for personal gain? Because in major public incidents, it is easier to touch fish in the muddy waters and rob them in the fire. Whether it is intentional or not, it is difficult to trace the evidence in complicated affairs.

The technical characteristics of the blockchain help to solve this problem. The blockchain can help establish an ex post audit mechanism through technologies such as digital identity, existence proof, and process proof. With the post-hoc audit based on the blockchain, the pre-review can be turned into a post-hoc review, and the result correctness review can be turned into a process rationality review. In this way, the emergency mechanism for major public events can operate efficiently, relevant individuals and institutions can act quickly, and all information leaves credentials on the blockchain, which cannot be tampered with, and meets post-transparent review and verification. As long as it can be reviewed and held accountable afterwards, Yang Shan can eliminate evil, deter those who spread rumors, and fish who are troubled by muddy waters, and let real voices and actions deal with the crisis.

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1. Epidemic discovery

It can be said that the sooner the epidemic is detected, the easier it is to control. A transparent and accurate information will help to control the epidemic, but rumors can cause unnecessary panic. However, the emergence of the epidemic is unpredictable, and the earlier the information becomes the more obscure. Due to insufficient evidence, it becomes very cautious and inefficient when it is reported and announced to the society.

If the epidemic information is managed as a process, this contradiction can be alleviated well. The gbn epidemic reporting mechanism based on the blockchain is first a real-name reporting information, followed by the investigation and review opinions of professional institutions, and possibly the conclusions of other scientific research institutions, and finally the conclusions of the competent unit. The epidemic information that the public sees is three-dimensional information that includes the entire confirmation process. Official institutions only need to provide information interpretation and level guidance. For example, an information that has not been verified by any professional organization need not be overreacted. The process of establishing the epidemic news is also transparent to help the people gradually digest the information and prepare in time to avoid panic caused by the sudden announcement of the information.

2. Publication of epidemic data

The epidemic data (confirmed and suspected quantities) and regional distribution are important basis for the public to judge the epidemic situation. The timely and transparent publication of data can reduce people's random guessing. Different diagnosis standards and methods will lead to large differences in data. To prevent large deviations in data, authoritative confirmation methods (such as P4 laboratory testing) are often used. This will result in low confirmation efficiency, and some cases cannot be confirmed in a timely manner, which will adversely affect aspects such as epidemic prevention decisions and resource allocation.

The publication of epidemic data can also adopt process management, from the suspected report of the attending doctor, the entry of clinical examination data, to CDC testing, and confirmation by the competent unit, and the entire process is recorded on the blockchain. The official has done classification screening and interpretation, and the public can view different levels of data according to the degree of confirmation.

3. Material donation

In the event of a major public incident, it is important to mobilize the strength of private donations, and everyone can work together to cope with the crisis. However, there is a problem of trust management in material donation, the unified allocation of resources, and the problem of logistics and efficiency. Normally, the Red Cross system is used for unified processing, but in the face of major public events, relying solely on the Red Cross system may cause bottlenecks in efficiency and manpower, which will cause obstacles to the deployment of materials.

Under the emergency mechanism of major public events, it is necessary to allow non-governmental organizations or individuals to participate in the management of material donations. The blockchain system can make up for problems such as material matching, logistics deployment, and efficiency. The first is the shortage of individuals or units to send gifts on the chain, and then the official agency confirms the emergency level, the donor makes a purposeful donation, and the non-profit organization or professional agency gives suggestions on the type and quality of the material. The key information of the process can be tracked on the chain, which realizes the transparent and credibility of public welfare donations and high efficiency, and is also conducive to the trust management of public welfare organizations.

4.Online government affairs

Due to the need for epidemic control, the people's government affairs cannot be handled in the counter and transferred to online processing. The use of blockchain can solve the real-name authentication and the business registration process, as well as the coordination of data exchange and approval processes between different departments. For example, the government affairs system of Hangzhou Xiacheng District in which Zhongke Fuyun participates, the blockchain can help improve running at most once, even without running once.

5 , business office

Affected by the prevention and control of the epidemic, many companies were unable to resume work normally, and some companies chose to work remotely online. However, during the business office process, paper contracts could not be signed, and only electronic contracts could be used for business cooperation. Among many solutions, the use of blockchain for electronic signing and contract certification can improve the legal effect. For example, the legally signed contract signing process can complete identity authentication, contract signing, certificate management through mobile phone operations, and use blocks. The chain stores key credentials.

In short, informatization tools can help to respond more efficiently and transparently to major public events such as the epidemic, and also help coordinate people's forces. The role of the blockchain in it is to establish a trust mechanism so that event information and emergency response processes can be audited, so that the emergency mechanism for major public events can be effectively operated, and the ability to govern major public events can be improved according to law. It is hoped that the blockchain technology can be widely used in this field.

(Note: The author is a researcher of the Blockchain Legal Innovation Joint Laboratory and a researcher of the China Blockchain Standardization Application Laboratory.)

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