BLOC8

Locate the missing with blockchain technology. Inspired by the Cyprus serial killer case

Cyprus Serial Killer – locate the missing with BLOC8 technology

The shocking news of the Cyprus serial killer made the news (BBC article by journalist Rosie Blunt) across the globe in April 2019. The most vulnerable members of society are quite often the target for serial killers and we hope to use blockchain technology to help their plight. At some point during our lifetime we all fall into the category of vulnerable individuals so BLOC8 is designed to be used by everyone.

Cyprus Serial Killer

For background to the Cyprus serial killer case and suspect Nikos Metaxas check out the posts on the Cyprus Mail site. One alarming issue was the police stating that until the body of a victim is found that they are not able to access the phone and social media accounts of a missing person. Their argument was that without a body there was no proof that a “serious” crime had been committed i.e. the missing person may have simply chosen to leave their family, friends, and workplace.

Suspected Cyprus serial killer army officer Nikos Metaxas

The Justice Department contradicted the police and said they would have examined each case if the police had requested personal data for the missing people. Within weeks of the arrest of the serial killer the Justice Minister, Ionas Nicolaou resigned and Police Chief Zacharias Chrysostomou was dismissed. The issue of personal data will be addressed when users sign up to the BLOC8 system.

We are not going to explain all the technical details of blockchain here but basically, it’s a distributed network where data can’t be changed (immutable) once it has been accepted by the network. This contrasts with social media platforms like Facebook where posts can be removed by employees of the platform. Blockchain networks are the only computer networks which run 24/7. The bitcoin network now boasts of 100% uptime for more than 10 years!

One aspect of blockchain technology we must cover is that of Smart Contracts and in particular the type offered by the ICON blockchain known as SCORE (Smart Contract on Reliable Environment). Smart Contracts are akin to traditional legal contracts for things like property title deeds, hire purchase agreements and employment contracts but they are in digital format as software code rather than in text format. To find out how blockchain and SCORE can be used in missing person cases please check out the BLOC8 system.

Registered users are sent details of how to use the BLOC8 SCORE. We recommend using a smartphone with Android 5.0 or higher and alternatively Chrome desktop. If you don’t have access to either of these you can use the BLOC8 browser SCORE. Read Q11 on the Q&A regarding private keys if you are planning to use the general browser SCORE.

Please be sure to bookmark this site and check back regularly for updates. The Cyprus serial killer was allowed to get away with his crimes for far too long and BLOC8 hopes to prevent similar occurrences around the world.

Protecting Vulnerable Individuals

One of the team met up with a BLOC8 protected member earlier today. The member is a sweet young lady, aged 75, that lives alone in a foreign country thousands of miles away from her family. She lives in a country that the BBC often calls a Greek island but no matter how many times they repeat this it will still be wrong.

The country in question is known to show little interest in the needs and circumstances of foreigners, as evidenced by the recent shocking serial killer case. The young lady, Jinty (not her real name) is a prime example of someone that BLOC8 was set up to help. If she went walking along the cliffs later today, fell and seriously injured herself she might not be missed for weeks. Worse still she may be kidnapped or murdered tomorrow.

As it happens Jinty has quite a large circle of friends in the town where she lives and hopefully one of them would report her missing to the police and be found safe and well. But there lies the rub, the local police and the Government don’t want to go to any real effort to locate Jinty. You see some months ago she told friends she might return to her country of birth or go travelling. When Jinty’s friends mention this to the local plod that’s all they need to hear to get back to their coffees, despite any evidence to indicate Jinty ever left the country.

Jinty can’t vote in national elections so she has no “value” to the Government. Now if she was a local the country would all be out on the streets looking for her, and rightly so. She’s a “worthless foreigner” so why make any effort to find her. As a retiree Jinty and thousands more like her bring in valuable income to the country via their pensions. Money is important but it’s not like being a living voter now is it?

Jinty is someones mother and every conceivable effort should be made to locate her wherever in the world she goes missing. She has an Android smartphone and uses it to stay in contact with friends via the Facebook app. She doesn’t really know how to use the smartphone but she contacted one of our team because she hadn’t “clocked in” (her words) with the BLOC8 system for the last couple of weeks.

Jinty was worried that we would be contacting the police to say she had gone missing whereas she was perfectly safe and well. We think she was genuinely concerned even though she had spoken to one of our team several times over the last few weeks. Our guy went through the “clocking in” process with Jinty again as he had done 3 weeks earlier when he introduced her to the BLOC8 system.

BLOC8 was designed to be used by everyone and we thought we had built the simplest user interface possible. We need to think again as Jinty wants a one-click “clocking in” system not the four or five buttons she currently needs to press. She made some very interesting comments about the digital wallet (CDAC) user interface and we will provide details in a follow up post.

Now I know what you are thinking, you can see that BLOC8 protection for Jinty might be useful, but you don’t need protecting right? You are married and your spouse would be straight down the cop shop if you didn’t return from the pub, WRVS meeting, big game or palates session. Maybe they would but your spouse is probably more likely to be your killer than anyone else. So when your friend pops round your spouse tells them you have gone to see Aunt Joan who lives the other side of the world in secluded isolation with no way of contacting you. Whereas you are actually buried under the patio, never to be heard from again.

Vulnerable Groups

We admit that if you are married you are not a high risk individual but millions of people across the world go missing every year for no apparent reason. Fortunately most reappear within the first year but tens of thousands are never seen again.

During our lifetime almost everyone falls into the group of vulnerable individuals. This group includes, but is not limited to:

  • Women
  • Children
  • Elderly
  • Drug users
  • Prostitutes
  • LGBT Community
  • Mentally handicapped
  • Foreign workers
  • Homeless
  • Rich people
  • Physically handicapped

Unfortunately we all grow old so even though you might not feel vulnerable today you will be one day. Accidents happen and like Jinty you might fall over a cliff next week. Don’t wait until you are vulnerable, join the free BLOC8 protection system today.

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