What is SORGA?

SORGA is a technology that reveals information that is interactive, tamper-proof and unique for each product.

It provides transparency and authentication of information to the consumer, as well as unique services provided (or not!) by the brand, both before and after the purchase.

SORGA produces unique certificates for each product, which enable customers to remain in privileged contact with the brand that issues this electronic certificate for its products.

Why isn’t SORGA an application?

SORGA is deliberately not an application for at least 3 reasons:

1. As users, we are already submerged with applications for everything and for nothing: there’s no need to add to the number, as over 80% of downloaded applications are never used.
2. Apps take up space on our smartphones. We thought it best to leave your smartphone’s memory available for your photos, for example.
3. Application platforms are not accessible to users worldwide: Google and Apple are sometimes banned, the smartphone browser, never.

Where is my personal data stored?

SORGA user data is hosted in France by a company governed by French law, subject to the General Data Protection Regulation.

80% of the European internet is hosted by Amazon, Microsoft or Google: these American companies, even if they respect the RGPD law and have servers in Europe, are subject to the Cloud Act and the Patriot Act of the American State.

The USA is one of the few countries in the world where state organizations (the NSA secret services, for example) can access the data of national companies, even without a court order, in the name of the national interest.

SORGA has chosen not to entrust them with its users’ data, unlike many of its fellow blockchain players.

Does SORGA charge for access to the Digital Product Passport?

No, using SORGA is and will remain free for everyone: consulting, sharing or transferring ownership of a SORGA passport is entirely free for its users.

The passport and its technology are financed by the manufacturers.

How can I obtain a SORGA passport?

It’s the manufacturer who decides to equip his products with a SORGA passport.

To obtain the certificate of authenticity for your SORGA-equipped product, simply open the SORGA passport by scanning the QR code (often diamond-shaped) applied to the product, click on “My safe / Add to my safe” and provide proof of purchase or a unique code provided by the previous owner to transfer ownership to your name.

Registering on the blockchain may take a few minutes: the new certificate in your name can be accessed by clicking on the “A” symbol in the top left-hand corner of the passport. The new certificate will be issued in your name.

How can I check that a passport or proof is genuine?

You’ll be able to check the authenticity of a document you’ve downloaded from your SORGA passport via https://verify.sorga.org/.

To do this, nothing could be simpler! Place the document downloaded from your passport into the verifier and check the data available to you. 

To find out more, details of the document’s blockchain anchor operation are available on the “Details” link of the result displayed on the checker.

For your information, this verification is done locally, meaning that no information is sent to our server or any other.

What is a SORGA tag?

A SORGA tag is a marker that links the physical product to its tamper-proof SORGA Digital Product Passport.

It can take the form of a QR code, an NFC chip, an RFID tag, a spelled-out link: it all depends on the product’s branding possibilities and desired uses.

It is possible to mix markers on the same product by coupling a SORGA enriched QR code to an NFC chip or RFID tag: all information will be collected in a single product passport.

Historically, RFID tags and NFC chips were used for high-speed mass reading in factories and warehouses. Now, the QR code enables this high-speed multi-tag reading instantly, without having to invest in reading tools (RFID gantries, NFC detectors, etc.).

What’s more, the QR code is the most universal and straightforward link for consumers.

It is possible to print non-duplicable SORGA enriched QR codes for brands subject to copy…

What’s a SORGA tag for?

A SORGA tag on a product allows consumers to know what they are buying….

• What is this brand’s raison d’être? Why does it make this product?
• What is the product’s intended use and audience? What are its precise technical characteristics? What are its ingredients/components?
• How is this product made? How is it used?
• What are the product’s social and environmental impacts? Does it use recycled materials? Which parts are recyclable? Where are the material recycling points near me?
• Who are the talents behind this product? Who was the creator of this brand? Who are its ambassadors today?
• Where is this product designed, manufactured and assembled? Where do its components come from?
• What have been the product’s milestones since the date of manufacture?
• …

and to benefit from exclusive services according to the brands using SORGA tags:

• Where can I buy it?
• What are the brand’s official websites and social networks?
• Write to the brand
• Write a review on this product
• Benefit from the brand’s loyalty program
• View the unique certificate of authenticity
• See the unique certificate of ownership
• Declare product stolen, lost, consumed, …Declare product stolen, lost, consumed, …
• Make an appointment with an advisor
• See recommended complementary products
• …

What does “portability” mean for SORGA enriched QR codes?

Placing a QR code on your products requires a number of precautions:

1. Maintaining your data over time
   Your products sometimes have long life spans (it’s better for the planet!) and change owners several times (the “second hand” principle).
   All your information that we enable you to anchor in the blockchain with SORGA is eternal: even if SORGA disappears, it remains accessible via Bitcoin.
   
   
2. Maintaining the link between the product and its digital passport
   This is what we call portability: if tomorrow you change the solution provider for your tamper-proof digital passports, you remain in control of the URLs used by SORGA to display the passport of the product whose QR code is a SORGA enriched QR code.
   If our collaboration comes to an end, we provide you with all the content and codes of your passports, leaving you free to reconstitute them with a colleague.
   Our URLs may not contain a domain name belonging to SORGA, but your own. This portability is free of charge, but must be indicated when you create your SORGA tags.
   
   
3. The level of security and confidentiality

Check where your data and passports are hosted.
Your public data contained in a passport are not confidential, however the number of passports issued per reference, the geolocation of their last reading or their status (in stock, shipped, resold, etc.) are confidential data.

Data is the gold of consumption: the GAFAMs have understood this well, just look at the mass of personal data they have accumulated.
The resale of this data has enabled them to finance their R&D, test their innovations and create a dependency on us.

Worse still, they are subject to the American Patriot Act and Cloud Act, having to hand over this data in spite of themselves to public bodies requesting it on the grounds of economic patriotism, without any judicial decision to justify it.

What is a SORGA enriched QR code?

A SORGA enriched QR code is a QR code that reads like any QR code: no mobile application is required, no personal data is collected when reading a SORGA enriched QR code.

A SORGA enriched QR code is more than just a QR code: it’s a multi-function connector. It doesn’t just contain one piece of information (a link to a website, an alphanumeric code or an email address). It contains several pieces of information, including those used by GS1, the worldwide -neutral and non-profit- product identification organization:

• the product reference identifier (called EAN in Europe or GTIN worldwide), which replaces barcodes to display the price charged by the point of sale at the checkout.
• the manufacturing batch, not systematically added by manufacturers on packaging
• the product’s unique identifier which makes it possible to distinguish, prior to sale, sub-batches of products that would have different suppliers of a component/ingredient for the same batch manufactured on such a day
• a variable to be defined with the manufacturer, such as a checkout deadline, limited edition, etc.

Do I have to cut out and keep the SORGA tags from our products?

No, once added to ” My products ” in your SORGA.APP account, no need to keep SORGA tags physically.

No one will be able to claim ownership of your product without your authorization: so remember to systematically add your SORGA-tagged products to your digital safe by flashing their tag.

All the information they contain is now in your digital safe!

Even if you resell your product, you’ll be able to transfer the certificate of authenticity from SORGA.APP and designate the new owner without having the physical SORGA tag: everything is in SORGA.APP once the product has been added to its safe!

Can I transfer my SORGA tag even if I’ve lost the packaging/card it came in?

Yes, the digital version of your SORGA tag is indestructible  it is indeed the one that transmits ownership of your product.

Your physical SORGA tag is lost, stolen or destroyed?
No problem, you can log on to SORGA.APP and retrieve all your electronic certificates. It’s now up to you to transfer them to the new owners of your products from SORGA.APP in just a few clicks!

Who provides the information for the tamper-proof Digital Product Passport?

The brands  themselves are the source of the content: no editorial intermediaries, no pseudo-experts. You benefit instantly from the latest information available.

SORGA is the trusted third party that makes it easy to read the brands’ commitments, the proof of their promises.

Even if you resell your product, you’ll be able to transfer the certificate of authenticity from SORGA.APP and designate the new owner without having the physical SORGA tag: everything is in SORGA.APP once the product has been added to its safe!

Does SORGA replace GS1?

No, SORGA is not intended to replace GS1, but to leverage its standard to develop high-value uses in retail.

GS1 is an independent, neutral, not-for-profit global organization of which SORGA is a partner.

GS1regroups manufacturers and distributors.
GS1 issues the product reference code according to its manufacturer’s identification and ensures the non-duplication of codes identifying products for checkout. SORGA uses it to create an enriched QR code that will contain a batch code, a unique code per product and a software solution to manage its contents in several languages in the tamper-proof Digital Product Passport created by SORGA.

SORGA also develops business applications using the SORGA tag to train, inform and collect data throughout the product lifecycle.

Why use blockchain?

It’s the most reliable trust process ever devised.

It’s a system immutable and traceable that enables information to be stored, viewed and transmitted transparently, securely and without a central control body.

There are private, semi-private and public blockchains.
SORGA’s mission being to secure verifiable and transparent information between a producer and his customer, it was imperative to work on a public blockchain : verifying proof doesn’t require third-party software, it’s freely consultable by anyone at any time.

Blockchain has enabled us to develop an intelligent solution for the challenges of traceability, transparency, counterfeiting, transfer of ownership for every product equipped with a SORGA digital passport.

Our information is recorded for life: even if SORGA were to disappear, the elements of the original proofs, the events of each passport remain available forever.

How does a blockchain work in practice?

The events of a passport SORGA as well as the elements of the original evidence which are the metadata of the original documents such as the identity of the author, the date as well as a marker proving the unaltered nature of the document) are recorded in “blocks“.

Each block is linked to the one before it and to the next. Each block is non-modifiable, non-erasable, so inviolable. 

A blockchain is the succession of blocks, recorded and duplicated on thousands of computers declared available for this blockchain.

A public blockchain calls on tens of thousands of computers already existing and declared available. A private blockchain has to set up the computers that will be dedicated to it: it therefore generates more digital activity, an activity that already emits enough CO²…

Why is it so complicated to hijack blockchain information?

Imagine that you wanted to take credit for the Harry Potter novels written by J.K. Rowling, and make everyone believe that the real, authentic novels are those that bear your name as the author of the books (the principle of counterfeiting: I copy and make everyone believe that I’m the original in order to capture the revenue).

You need to change the author’s name in all editions and printed copies, as well as any association of this work and its author. Here, there is no single register that associates novels with their authors for the whole world, as is the case with the Internet, where a server delivers centralized information to everyone.

With the passage of time and the success of the work printed millions of times over, it’s decentralized information that has to be modified millions of times over…

It’s a similar principle for blockchain: information is no longer centralized in one place (a server or a database) but decentralized, demultiplied. Add to this the fact that in blockchain, it is not possible to modify recorded information, which is systematically dated and signed by its author.

Which blockchain does SORGA use?

We’ve opted for the most robust and reliable blockchain in over a decade, the Bitcoin public blockchain.

No crypto-currency payments are linked to SORGA passports. Neither for the manufacturers of equipped products, nor for passport users. The speculative volatility and complexity of crypto-currencies is not the issue for SORGA users;

What’s more, protecting data often involves costly and very complicated infrastructures (storing files in digital safes or cryptographic pipes, the cost of which increases with volume and duration). We use references to certified objects, without having to store the documents in the blockchain.

Our technology limits the energy impact of our blockchain transcriptions : 50,000 or 100,000 events recorded in the blockchain by our SORGA tag passports require no more energy to send an email.

We use Bitcoin’s Layer 2 to optimize our environmental impact, particularly with regard to energy.

Why a public blockchain?

There are three main advantages to using public blockchain: 

• data security thanks to strong decentralization (information is contained in blocks scattered and repeated thousands of times)
• transparency thanks to the possible external consultation of certificates by everyone and at any time
• environmental impact: we are not adding dedicated servers to run SORGA, either at our premises or at our clients’ premises. Manufacturing, maintenance, end of life of digital technology has an impact on our environment. We want to limit it as much as possible.

Why a Blockchain passport?

When you buy a product equipped with a SORGA passport, its certificate of authenticity provides you with two important pieces of evidence:

• on the one hand its authenticity thanks to different elements contained in the passport (its detailed characteristics, the events of the product since its creation, its stakeholders who sign the proofs they provide, but also other techniques allowing you to proof that the passport is indeed that of the associated product)
• secondly the name of its current owner

So, if you’ve bought this product, remember to declare yourself the new owner by clicking on “add to my safe” from the passport reader on your smartphone. You will be asked to provide proof of purchase (new products) or a unique code (used products) from the previous owner.

This certificate of authenticity will enable you to guarantee the authenticity of your product and certify that you are the owner if you wish to offer or resell your product. No more risk of losing a certificate of authenticity usually supplied with the product on paper or card: the certificate contained in the SORGA passport is digital, registered for life in the blockchain.

The certificate can be accessed by clicking on the “A” symbol in the top left-hand corner of the passport.

The passport offers a number of advantages that are already well known:

• Transparency of the manufacturer and its stakeholders
• Traceability of components and after-sales product
• Fight against counterfeiting
• Dedication video for the person to whom you are offering the product
• Private messaging between owner and brand
• Rewards for customer loyalty
• Benefits reserved for all or certain passport owners (products offered by raffle, discounts, invitations, etc.).
• Track product repairs, events (transfer of ownership, addition of photos or videos, etc.), etc.

… but also those that the future holds :

• Exclusive digital experiences
• Web3, NFT associated with certain passports, metaverse access, etc.
• …

Will my personal data be included in blockchain?

No, your personal data is not on the blockchain.

All data is 100% encrypted.

These are hashes, so it’s impossible to trace them back to any personal data, even if you mistakenly create your username with personal information such as your email or mobile number.

The digital signature will always be distinct from the data entered by the user.