Why we use Self-Sovereign Identity
Who you are varies depending on who asks. Your name may be Juma but to your children you are a parent, an employee to your employer, a student to your university, a taxpayer and citizen to your government. Different contexts define who we are over our lifetime and how we identify ourselves. One individual may end up holding different forms of documents to prove who they are to access and benefit from given services.
Some details may vary on the different identifying documents but some key details are unchangeable. Common details are usually your name, gender, and your image in the identifying document. One person may hold a national ID card, a driver’s license, a student’s ID card, an employee card, a club membership card and a health insurance card. Yet in the end, it is still the same person regardless of interactions made in the real world. In usage of any of the credentials, one only needs to show it, have its credibility checked before being granted access to a facility or services tied to the identity credentials.
While many mundane tasks like money transfer have been successfully digitized, it has remained a hard task for the same to happen for exchange of identity credentials either due to poorly implemented standards or technology silos that hinder interoperability.
Internet standards like the Verifiable Credentials spec and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) by W3C have evolved over time to support a standard version of credentials and credentials exchange when issuing and verifying claims held by an individual. The digital identity revolution has been growing as seen in whitepapers published by the World Economic Forum highlighting the same.
With all these advancements, the owner of identity credentials (You), has been primary to the conversation and design of solutions that will enable seamless applicability of personal credentials in the real world and online.
At Vibranium ID, we adopt these principles and standards to provide a good user experience without compromising your privacy. The user gets to choose how her information is shared and has the option to discontinue access to personally identifying information when she sees fit.
The strength of self-sovereign identity, also called decentralized identity, is in having secure access to your personal information and associated credentials where transfer is managed by you. This way, large corporations lack the ability to wipe your presence from the internet by switching off your profile.
We have designed our mobile app in such a way that you can always transfer all your information to another digital wallet that supports open standards and interoperability. In a practical way, you will be able to present it for verification without necessarily showing your physical ID.
Authenticity of information held is verified against agreed details with the Issuer of the credentials. Say, an employer. The decentralized identity model eventually gives power back to the owner of data leading to a future where transition from identifying in person and on-line will be seamless.
To provide a means to securely access your personal identifying credentials, we are committed to best software security practices and regulations on data protection and privacy like the Data Protection Act (Kenya) 2019 and the Personal Data Protection Guidelines for Africa (2018) outlined by the Internet Society and the Commission of the African Union.
Follow our work in blockchain based ID here: Vibranium ID
