PART I: IDENTITY MATTERS — Self-custody within a legal framework
Why decentralised identity protection will be key for driving Web3 innovation and digital ownership!
It wasn’t even so long ago, but we will hop back in time to the first days of the internet with old-school dial up modems, the most agonising things for your ears and a very long wait; but it led to a digital revolution, driving the most advanced technological innovations of all times.
Computers were bulky and heavy, data storage capacity low and the internet had very little value for anyone other than a small club of highly sophisticated computer scholars. Hard to fathom that even in the year 2000 people were still in doubt about the viability of the world wide web and wireless didn’t even exist until then.
Needless to say, times have changed and the small club has grown to billions of users; in fact, today more than half the planet (around 4.9 billion people) has access to the Internet and remarkable 90% have mobile phones. Increasingly, our relationships with each other and businesses take place in the digital space.
Yet, the growth of the digital ecosystem has led to increasing complexity and security challenges; by its very core it creates a fertile ground for cybercrime and fraud since there is more of the unknown than in the physical world. We don’t know who and what we are (really) connecting to; the web is a network of millions of linked devices that use protocols to communicate between each other.
People need confidence in their relations within this ecosystem and the lack of a proper digital identity or trust layer led to frustrating password management. Studies show everyone is bad at it, not only you – turns out to be the most hated user experience on the web; but that’s not a crime, just a hassle.
So, besides pesky password management, the threats of deception and fraud, our online privacy is at risk. When Big Tech started harnessing our online data, users didn’t realise that they would become such a valuable commodity or product themselves. Platforms control and retain tons of data about you and that data is being bought and sold all the time while you are out of the loop.
In 2021 alone, the global big data market generated a staggering $240.56 billion according to analytical reports. The rampant monetisation of personal data is eroding trust. “People don’t like what they are seeing in Web2. They feel the threat to democracy, the threat to our personal rights or the fact that we don’t actually have any digital freedoms whatsoever.” Yat Siu, Co-founder and CEO of Animoca Brands.
While handing third parties the keys to your personal data may provide a level of convenience in terms of single sign-on, it’s equal to giving away your personal rights for a stress free life; yet people still do it constantly. Everyone who is under the impression that they’ve got their personal data or digital identity under control — Think again!
If you are a Google, Amazon, Facebook user — which most of us are — your personal data, or digital identity may be among the over billions accounts that have already been compromised by these three companies alone; and according to stats 80% of hacking-related breaches are due to compromised passwords.
This is a stark reminder of why your data are of significant value not only to you but those who want to exploit it for their own illegal, illicit or, at a minimum, unauthorised purposes. And because of the anonymous nature of the digital space, you won’t even know. So, individuals’ digital identity protection should be at the heart of concern.
While digital ID by its very nature is what it sounds like: using ‘digital technology to prove that you are who you say you are’ (such as passwords, user names, bank accounts, and social media photos), the question is not if digital identity will happen — it already does — the very question is how and what it looks like.
The ‘right model‘ needs to be personal, like a physical wallet in the real world, unique to you and private. You control your own identity and you selectively share what’s in your wallet, your passport, driver’s licence, national insurance card or whatever it may be; and last but not least with whom. Privacy and security are necessities, identity is a human right!
Next time we will deep dive into the realms of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)
PREVIEW PART II (full article here.)
The evolution of digital ID technology is accelerating at a fast pace and we need to get it right! With Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) we are on the right track. SSI is a fairly new model for digital identity management that gives us — the individual — autonomous control over the personal information we use to prove who we are to third parties on the digital grid.
‘Sovereign’ (also autonomous, free or independent): meaning not subject to the rule or control of another.
SSI will democratise ownership and recreate a level playing field on the digital grid.
SSI gives everyone the right to exist — every individual must be able to exist in the digital world without the need of a third party.
SSI is decentralised — in contrast to centralised identity management, you are the boss.
SSI gives back individual control — you own your identity and give explicit permission for a third party to use or access your data.
SSI is persistent — lives with you from birth to death.
SSI is portable — accessible to you wherever you are at any time, across any geographic border.
SSI is blockchain enabled.
PART II: for full article read here.
About IAMX
White Paper│ Deck
IAMX is a token-based Self-Sovereign Identity and authentication protocol that empowers individuals with the means to own their identity. Adhering to the strictest of regulatory standards for identity protection, IAMX builds on the foundational principles of SSI to provide a robust and secure system where individuals are able to take control and manage their identity. Users of IAMX will realise significant time and cost savings through novel approaches to identity management and ecommerce transactions, like 1-click fulfilment, which are legally binding and maintain local regulatory compliance. With users in control of their identity data, time-consuming processes like Know Your Customer (KYC) or Know Your Business (KYB) become near instant, highly secure transactions.
IAMX builds upon the foundations of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), blockchain, and DIDs, enabling individuals, organisations, or any entity to prove their identity independent of external parties or centralised authorities. This way, the authenticity of anything tied to an IAMX DID can be independently confirmed by the entity holding the DID.
IAMX is at the forefront of the Web3 revolution, bringing the world’s most secure, decentralised, and user-friendly Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) solution to the Internet. Adding the layer of identity and authentication to the Internet, with IAMX you can treat the Internet like you are always logged in. Pursuant to their mission and vision, IAMX is working to solve the problem of providing an identity to the billions of people who do not currently have a state-recognised, legal identity. Using a Biometric Identity Gateway, users with or without state-level identification can create their own identity for use online, one that relies on their unique physical attributes, including their face, iris, and fingerprints.
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