Communications of the ACM
Why Me?: Shedding Light on Random Processes via Randomness Beacons
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We live surrounded by random processes, systems whose final outcome are typically unpredictable. When drawing a raffle, playing roulette at the casino, deciding who pays the restaurant bill, or even gambling in a poker game, we take part of a random process. Indeed, their intrinsic unpredictability is often what drives us to participate in them.
There are situations, however, where the result of these random processes may have serious consequences for those involved. Being selected for a tax audit, for example, can carry significant time and legal costs, which is why the selection process must be trustworthy. We accept a tax audit if we believe the random process was not manipulated in any way, that their final outcome was not influenced in an improper manner. But, if the results are potentially unpredictable, any result may be likely. How do we then prove that some specific outcome was not deliberately chosen? Solving this apparent paradox is the objective of a verifiable randomness service offered by the University of Chile.
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