[Cryptography] Anti-counterfeiting microchip

[Bertrand Mollinier Toublet]

> On Sep 5, 2017, at 05:28, Camille Harang via cryptography <cryptography at metzdowd.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello, I would like to propose a solution for authenticating physical
> goods that are subject to counterfeiting (gold coins, medicine,
> banknotes, artwork, organic seeds, collector's stamps, vintage wine,
> etc.). It would come in the form of a cryptographic microchip sealed by
> the manufacturer into the object to be authenticated, or into its
> packaging if the object is too small (packaging must irreversibly
> damaged once opened). The printed circuit would include a microchip able
> to make cryptographic signatures and communicate via NFC, and small
> battery (rechargeable via USB when empty).
> [… key pair, blockchain, etc.]
Camille,

having worked on similar technology (sans blockchain) in my past, I will bite: what does any of what you are proposing bring over a simple unique ID NFC tag? If you can uniquely identify the item (via unique ID) and the vendor has infrastructure in place to tie the unique ID to an inventory entry, then what you are proposing is achieved.

As a matter of fact, I have posted here (https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pics-share/E218E101-CC84-4A95-ABEE-0066441A4977.JPG) a picture of a Canon camera, which, back in mid-2014, was tagged with an uncloneable RFID chip which you could read with the appropriate Android app, which would then tie it to the manufacturer’s inventory and give you, the customer, assurances that the camera was in fact _not_ counterfeit.

There were many challenges and shortcomings with the solution. I can assure you that missing public key cryptography or integration with a blockchain were not part of them.

In other words, and the risk of raining on your parade: what you described looks like a solution in search of a problem, and anti-counterfeiting is not the problem for your solution.
-— 
Bertrand