What is ID?

Identity can be defined as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is”. But what is your identity? Your name is chosen for you. The time and date of your birth is written on a piece of paper. Eventually you get a driving licence, a social security number, a passport, a bank account and a career.

So much is done online these days that your digital identity is just as important as your analogue one. You most likely have a Facebook account, an email account and online banking. You use Twitter, Instagram and snapchat. You book your hotels, flights and taxis online. You have a PayPal account, you do your taxes online and you shop online and sell things on eBay. A secure online identity is more important than ever.

Reputation is inextricably linked to identity. For example, to be successful at selling items online, you need a good reputation. eBay is all about reputation. Without knowing who someone is on the other side of the world, all a bidder has to go on is the seller’s rating from previous sales. A first time seller on eBay is only allowed to sell so many items. Only when you receive a certain amount of positive reviews are you allowed to sell a few more items per month. With no reputation, a seller has to prove that they can be trusted before they are allowed to sell more items. Reviews are paramount in today’s world of online shopping, from retail to eating out to travel (I won’t book anything these days before I check Tripadvisor).

Your ID is also formed by your experiences and knowledge. This includes the academic degrees you may have earned, experience gained from various employments, and online portfolios of examples of your work. With all of these things at stake in the online world, how can you be assured that your identity is being used by only you? Enter, blockchain technology. A new, decentralised system that aims to avoid the pitfalls of the vulnerable, centralised system of old. With blockchain, it would be extraordinarily difficult to steal someone’s identity, something 14 million Americans experienced in 2014. Illinois hospitals in America are experimenting with digital birth certificates, and the decentralisation of this valuable information makes it next to impossible to destroy or tamper with it. At DID, we are firm believers in maintaining control of your own identity to avoid identity theft and fraud — keeping your reputation intact and your experiences and knowledge safe from wrongful appropriation.