I hear that the UK government is thinking about forcing citizens to have a digital identity, and then to show it whenever asked. Rather than show the benefits of digital ID and digital wallets, the reason given is related to immigration. Well, that approach failed in 2001, and where a scheme proposed by Tony Blair was dumped due to concerns that government agencies would spy on citizens.
So, rather than promoting the great benefits of using government sources to attest to an identity, the UK government may be laying another trap for itself. The EU, though, is taking a different tack and prompting an openness in digital wallets, and where governments become just one identity provider — and one which is highly trusted. For this, a citizen or organisation will have their public key placed on the EBSI blockchain, and then a private key — stored in a wallet — can be used to sign messages, and which are verified by the trusted public key.
While the citizen side is a little more difficult to manage and set up, the business registration part is fairly easy, and where there are trusted processes for the registration of the public key. A good example of this is with a university awarding an academic qualification, and where a digital award will be granted, and which is signed by the university, and where the public key will be placed on the EBSI ledger, and then verified by any…
