In the absence of universal digital identities that can be used across services and cross-border digital identity, eIDV (electronic identity and document verification) services solve a key problem: how to prove a person’s identity for access to online/remote services.

eIDV services also remedy the issue of trust between service providers and their users. As David Britton, VP Industry Solutions of Experian, explained when interviewed for the recent Goode Intelligence Digital Identity & Document Verification Market report (1): “Right now we are in a state of transition where we will have a combination of old and new identity – physical ID documents and digital identity. This is where eIDV is solving an immediate problem.”

The ability to ‘onboard’ new customers to services through remote digital channels, web and mobile is a pressing need for many organisations looking to reduce their physical footprint and to support digital transformation projects while reducing the risk of fraud. eIDV services address this by proving an individual’s identity, while also supporting digital onboarding and meeting the latest AML, KYC and customer due diligence (CDD) regulations.

trust is very important between companies and customers, in many cases it is everything, without trust you cannot buy. it takes a lot of work to win someone's trust but it's easy to lose it.

Zwitter, Gstrein and Yap represent the digital identity space in the figure below. They also argument that “Blockchain and other DLTs [Distributed Ledger Technologies] (e.g., Ethereum, Hyperledger Indy, Veres One, IOTA) enable new paradigms of identity management (Blockchain Bundesverband, 2018)”. These technologies incorporate decentralized identity management systems controlled by the individual, but the role of DLT “remains limited to the management and validation of the data once it has been registered”, “DLT does not aid in ensuring the validity of the submitted data”. And another question arises in these new paradigms: who does have a responsibility of respecting, protecting and promoting the individual rights?

I find this paper very interesting because it analyses the definition of the digital identity from a philosophical and legal perspective and presents a discussion of opportunities and risks around digital identity, specially in the Distributed Ledger Technologies. That is, it “aims to counteract the current trend to immediately jump on technology on the peak of the ‘hype-cycle’ and present it as panacea for all problems”.

Reference: Zwitter, A. J., Gstrein, O. J., & Yap, E. (2020). Digital Identity and the Blockchain: Universal Identity Management and the Concept of the “Self-Sovereign” Individual. Frontiers in Blockchain, 3, 26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbloc.2020.00026

DIGITAL IDENTITY SPACE:

https://www.ted.com/talks/yael_eisenstat_dear_facebook_this_is_how_you_re_breaking_democracy#t-327119

The 5 trends:

1.      Mobile communication dominates

2.      Guaranteed security: private data, public framework

3.      The smart city will become our playground

4.      Public supervision will be critical to sustaining growth in the digital economy

5.      Three-stage dynamics (from theory to proof-of-concept, to pilot, to implementation) will drive digital ID pilots and roll-outs

Security will be one of the challenges for public authorities: create “digital bonds that secure relationship between new mobile identities and broader society”. To this end, we need a framework of trust built on personal data protection. Thus, one of the trends for the future will be to guarantee as much as possible privacy for all citizens. Trust is demanded in all exchanges between citizens and public authorities. It will be a great challenge to have an effective "public framework" for "private data"!
erica_t