[platz]

> In the real-world, we obviously wouldn’t be able to manually mark the papers, they would automatically be marked based on actual data

marked automatically by who, and why is outsourcing the information to an 'automatic' third-party a "proof"? Why should that third-party be trusted?

[mcdee]

In this case the third party could be the employer that pays the salary, or the bank that receives it.

The decision to trust the issuer or not is down to the entity viewing the information, and depends on the particular requirements of the situation. A zero-knowledge proof that I am over 25 issued by my local library may be enough for the local theatre to let me in to watch a suitably rated movie, but not for the local bar to let me purchase liquor (in the latter case a proof directly from a government entity would be more appropriate).

[platz]

This is a different definition of proof that what I'm used to