It’s Time for Contextual Identity
A theory of digital ID premised on Helen Nissenbaum’s theory of privacy
Digital identity systems are rapidly rolling out across countries and localities around the world. Digital ID credentials are quickly replacing legacy ones, with experts predicting that nearly half of all identity credentials in circulation will be smart credentials by 2023. These systems are also increasingly integrating biometric data, including fingerprints and facial recognition technologies, with some estimating that 3.6 billion people worldwide will carry digital IDs with embedded biometrics by 2021.
These trends are in part motivated by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Viewed as a critical tool for furthering inclusion and access, providing “legal identity for all” by 2030 is one of the core SDGs.¹ Although some form of legal identity is no doubt essential for participation in, and access to, a wide array of services in modern society, it is worth stopping to critically examine these trends. While most of the criticism levied to date has focused on conventional privacy and security concerns (particularly where biometrics are employed), there is a deeper shortcoming facing many of these digital ID schemes.
Many digital ID systems are designed and built as monolithic systems that fail to account for context. An example of this are…
