UPDATE JUNE 2014: A New Rarebit client (alpha) is online now:
http://rarebit.github.io/project/A full client that runs in the browser with a modern UI. Loads, hashes, issues editions, and transfers lots of digital works. Shows/plays supported media in app background.
See last post below for more. The new client uses the hash of a file directly instead of putting it into a certificate. The issue tx carries the author's sig and so serves as a timestamped certificate once added to a block. Proves existence, authorship, originality.
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Rarebit is a protocol designed to enable collectible digital works to be issued and traded on the bitcoin network.
Using a Rarebit client, an artist or author can issue digitally signed limited editions of a work online, and collectors can trade units of the edition with the assurance they are authentic.
Whitepaper:
http://rarebit.github.io/project/doc/rbprimer.htmlBaseline reference client:
http://rarebit.github.io/project/client/min *runs in the browser (implemented in client-side javascript); early beta suitable mostly for demonstration at this time.
Protocol summary:
1. A work is signed by the author: A digital certificate is created to accompany the work, and a bitcoin address is generated that uniquely identifies the signed work.
2. Editions of a signed work are issued by the author: Transactions are broadcast to the bitcoin network that record the work's ID and quantity.
3. Units of an edition are aquired and traded among collectors:
a. The author signs over units to collectors in new transactions.
b. Current owners sign over units to new owners in additional transactions.
4. The provenance of a unit is demonstrated: The linked transactions stored in bitcoin's public ledger are scrutinized to ensure a unit originates from the author and has not been duplicated.
A work is typically a digital file such as a photo, video, or ebook.
Rarebit, like bitcoin, is "trustless", i.e., confidence is placed in cryptographic proof instead of a central authority. Rarebit is not a copyright enforcement ("digital rights management") scheme. The protocol defines no capability for restricting how a work can be consumed. Rarebit merely distinguishes collectible copies from all others.