Future of Digital Identity
How we prove that we are who or what we say we are during digital transactions and interactions is set to become one of the defining features of the next stage of the human digital transformation.
Today, we are living with early attempts to solve the identity problem that are no longer fit for purpose. At best, the multiple different ways we login, confirm our identities, and establish trust in claims made during digital exchanges, has become profoundly inconvenient. At worst, they have left us in a connected world which is neither safe nor secure, and in which we seem to have completely lost control of our most personal information. The next generation solutions to the digital identity challenge could change all of this.
In the short term, new solutions are likely to move us towards the promise of a single Digital ID that allows us to simply, safely and securely navigate a connected world using a single, digital identity. This ID could allow us to swiftly cross an international border and hire a car, use multiple credit cards, change our bank account, and act as a robust login tool for any and every online digital service we chose. Furthermore, there is the tantalising promise that it could do all of this whilst affording greater privacy.
Looking further forward, change could become profound. The ways that we digitally manage, share and verify our personal information could come to completely redefine the human digital experience. Current digital business models could collapse. Centres of digital power might shift. And the personal data ‘land grab’ could be replaced by a new digital norm in which individuals can finally make meaningful claims to data ownership and control. However, there are a number of potentially calamitous pitfalls to navigate along the way. Some of these could lead to whole new kinds of digital dystopia.
