Self-Sovereign Identity
A brighter online future
What if we “owned our identity,” meaning you have some kind of digital passport (or wallet) that proves you are you, not some imposter. This passport could be very secure, widely accepted in all corners of the internet, and also at banks and gyms and schools and shops? And what if this passport would not be controlled by third parties like the government or company?
Today, most of us have made the Faustian bargain of trading agency for convenience. We trust portals with our log-in credentials to countless sites, the photos of our family, the contents of our private messages, and troves of personal details that can be repackaged, exploited, and weaponized–in just one tiny example, arguably tipping the 2016 election to Donald Trump.
Self-sovereign identity (or SSI) would be that alternative. When the SSI puzzle is fully cracked, centralized brokers like social media would be replaced (at least partially) with peer-to-peer communication, as we no longer need intermediaries.
SSI can be an abstract concept, making even Bitcoin look simple and easy to explain. It’s tough to visualize or appreciate. So for this scenario, we’ll envision some ways that SSI — and ownership of your data — would change your (online) life.
A trusted internet:
The internet’s “trust problem” is well-documented regarding Deep fakes. Misinformed campaigns. Fake news., and without dramatic changes, the problem is likely to get bleaker. “With the current state of artificial intelligence, we are getting to a point where any person could be able to deep fake any other person,” says Paula Berman, a digital identity expert.
SSI could be the solution. Imagine a future internet where every tweet, post, pic, video, or article is cryptographically signed to verify the author’s identity, like a vastly superior version of Twitter’s little blue checkmark. And if you see content that lacks cryptographic authentication, then you’d suspect it’s bogus.
The SSI identity system gives you the ability to use your digital wallet and authenticate your own identity using the credentials they have issued you. You no longer have to give up control of personal information to dozens of databases each time you want to access new goods and services, with the risk of your identity being stolen by hackers.
Personalized shopping:
The SSI over the internet can give us dramatically greater personalization. We can go to a website, and they could give us a customized experience without asking for a log-in. Since we control our data, we would then share the relevant info to the site, which could instantly personalize our shopping. It would only do this if–and only if–you’ve permitted to see the data. The sovereign element of this is users have the choice.
Single identity across the ecosystem:
In the online utopia of SSI, you could float between worlds with the same core identity, bringing your reputation with you.
In the late 90s, when we were using crypto for money applications and legal applications, identity was a necessary evil we had to do and we’ve tried to make it as lightweight as possible. Many of the technologies we were doing back then eventually got reused with open ID and now in the verifiable credentials and decentralized identity world.
It is like pushing the opposite of financial privacy to the world. But verifiable credentials and decentralized identity can help fix a lot of these things. You take to move away from this idea of having one address or one identity.
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