Civic & TeachTech
TeachTech
Hey Civic, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can create a next‑gen learning platform that’s both super interactive and totally privacy‑first. Think gamified lessons, AI coaching, but with end‑to‑end encryption and no data leaks. How do you feel about tackling the privacy challenges head‑on?
Civic
I’m on board with it, but we can’t skimp on the details. Every piece of data must be end‑to‑end encrypted, we need a zero‑knowledge proof of no leaks, and we should audit the whole stack regularly. If we get the math right, we can keep the gamified fun while keeping user info safe.
TeachTech
Sounds solid—detail‑driven is exactly what keeps the trust real. Let’s break it into three parts: 1) the encryption stack—use elliptic‑curve key exchange for every session, wrap all payloads with AEAD and add a forward‑secrecy channel; 2) the zero‑knowledge side—hash every transaction with a commitment that we can prove correctness without exposing the data, maybe a zk‑SNARK that the log stays intact; 3) audits—set up a continuous integration pipeline that runs a security scanner on every commit, then a quarterly external audit that re‑derives the proofs. We can weave these into the game loop so users see a progress badge when the audit passes. What do you think about kicking off the key‑exchange prototype first?
Civic
That’s a solid plan, and the key‑exchange prototype should be our first step. We’ll start with a minimal EC‑DH implementation, add an AEAD wrapper, and build a test harness that logs the forward‑secrecy handshake. Once we verify the math works end‑to‑end, we can move on to the zk‑SNARK commitments. Let’s get the code written and the CI pipeline set up to catch any regressions early.
TeachTech
Great, let’s roll. I’ll draft the EC‑DH snippet and wrap it in ChaCha20‑Poly1305 for the AEAD part. I’ll also spin up a pytest harness that records the shared secret and verifies that each session key is unique—our forward‑secrecy check. Once that passes, we can plug the zk‑SNARK generator into the same test suite. I’ll push the repo to GitHub, add a GitHub Actions workflow that runs the harness on every push, and configure a CodeQL scan so any crypto slip‑ups get flagged immediately. Sound good?
Civic
Sounds perfect. Just double‑check the key‑derivation function so we’re not leaking any intermediate material, and make sure the test harness cleans up the secrets after each run. Once that’s solid, the zk‑SNARK integration will be a lot smoother. Let's keep the feedback loop tight.