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On The Internet Nobody Knows You Are A Dog. Not For Much Longer

A European Solution to verify yourself online without compromising your privacy is coming up. And it is promising

Disinformation, false news, fake identities, stolen data, manipulated images are all standard parts of our digital lives. We don’t know if we can trust what we read or what we see as images or videos. Fake is often default. How did we get to that point? 

Winding back to the flourishing of the world wide web back in the 1990s the mood was different. Optimism was the key and the possibility to share information across the world in a split second was overwhelming to most of us. Gone were the options that a suppressive government could mislead populations, or global corporations could hide misbehaviours. It was possible to share everything in a free and open environment. 

As the Internet evolved, it changed from being a world only publishing static content to a digital universe where we all could get our “15 minutes of fame” by submitting content to all the new social media platforms. 

What happened? Why did we go from such an optimistic mode to such a dark mode 

The first answer is the fact that the content on the Internet shifted from content providers like news outlets, businesses, institutions, and others did pay the Internet Service Providers (ISP) for the service to make content available at websites. This was the first version of the web. It changed when it became easier for everyone to share data. The development of social media platforms was phase two or web 2.0 as many call it. With phase two, the business model of the Internet shifted. Now it was ‘free’ to share data, and the ISP business made revenue from selling users’ data to others and to provide advertising to their users. This leads to the second answer. With a business model based on traffic, data, and advertising but not on the content we developed, the web became an eldorado for those who wanted to manipulate the public by creating false content. It also allowed for the development of a long range of scams, identity theft, fake shops, and other criminal activity. 

What was originally seen as a safe haven for sharing solid content has turned into a maelstrom of garbage. Especially because the digital sphere has no tradition for methodic check of who the user is, and which physical identity is behind the screen. Rather the contradictory. The more users in the system, the more successful businesses. 

Digital Identities Are Common
A government or a bank has always known the user and needs to verify the user when they access services digitally. So, to circumvent the identity issue Nordic Governments and the Banking sector began a unique collaboration. They developed a common identity system that proves who the user is while the user conducts activity online.

Digital identities are more common than many of us think. All of us carry typically two items that hold a digital identity. One item is our credit card, and the other is our mobile phone. When traveling we often carry our passports as well. In all of these items there is a digital component inside the item. A tiny, small PC that can do only a few very specialised things. Sign a transaction with a digital signature is one. A digital signature is like the one we do with ink on paper. This is just done using clever mathematics and some very big prime numbers. In the end we arrive at the same result. A legally binding signature that proves your identity in combination with the specific transaction. 

Solid digital identities are thus used millions of times daily all over the world. But it is technology that evolves in parallel processes without any forced collaboration. This is what the EU and 27 member states want to change now.

But We Need One for All of Europe
In 2021, the EU Commission announced “The European Digital Identity framework” and that by 2030 “all key public services should be available online, all citizens will have access to electronic medical records; and 80% citizens should use an eID solution.”

For us living in a Nordic country that is easy, as we are used to doing tons of self-service online with either our MitID, BankID, FTN, and others. But in other parts of Europe, this is an ambitious goal. It is digitisation at an unseen speed. 

A part of the EU plan is to provide all citizens with a digital wallet that you as a user control fully. A wallet that can be used when logging onto large online e-commerce sites so you don’t need to provide all your family data just because you want to order a new book. The plan works with the so-called zero knowledge proof. The “zero” means that you only grant enough information required to the transaction. A good example is a person who wants to buy alcohol in the supermarket and is asked for age verification. Here in Denmark, you must be 18 years old. Instead of showing a passport with a lot of personal data, the person can show a QR code from an app that with checking says I’m old enough. 

Another very important part of the wallet is that EU citizens can use such a wallet in all the 27 member states. Not just in our own country but across borders. And it does not stop with just simple age verification. The ambition goes beyond that.

The EU Commission lists these examples:

  • public services such as requesting birth certificates, medical certificates, reporting a change of address
  • opening a bank account 
  • filing tax returns
  • applying for a university, at home or in another Member State
  • storing a medical prescription that can be used anywhere in Europe 
  • proving your age
  • renting a car using a digital driving licence
  • checking in to a hotel

No Government Surveillance
Now many could fear that such a wall project is just another example of how the governments can access people’s data and use the data as they like. It is not the case. The wallet project outlines several built-in guardrails to protect the privacy of the user. From the overall requirements of Privacy by Design and Security by Design to the requirements that an app must be shared as open source for others to inspect the code of the app. The app must be provided free of change and usage of the app must not require the user to provide additional data nor pay extra etc.

Now, one could say that such large projects never happen. It is not true. In 2023 the EU Commission launched four big pilot projects for the EU Digital Identity Wallet, and in September 2024 EU Commission has requested ENISA, the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, to provide support for the certification of European Digital Identity Wallets. The big gears in the big EU machine are moving.

I believe this can change a lot in Europe. It will break down many bureaucratic barriers not just for us citizens but also for businesses. Conducting trade easily across borders is important, especially in times where other parts of the world tend to close around itself. Even more important is the fact that such a wallet can become a truly useful tool to fight the disinformation, false news, fake identities, stolen data, manipulated images that began with because with a trustworthy, secure, and a privacy respecting digital identity wallet we will know who we are when we are digital.

Photo: Bjarke Alling

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