Introduction
In this article, we will discuss the future of digital identity and personal identification in particular. While the practical and commercialization aspects of DePIN are still up in the air, the technology allows us to have a more detailed understanding of digital identity, hence the choice.
Identity is among the core concepts in the realms of human society. A hallmark of individuality and unique human attributes is central to how society operates. Notably, human identity exclusively existed in a physical dimension until the advent of the digital era. A digital identity is uniquely different from just an identity as it does not merely represent one’s truthful real-world identity in the cyber world. It encompasses not only the various aspects of a person’s online identity in the physical sense but also one’s behavioral, emotional, and experiential characteristics. Generally speaking, a digital identity incorporates three main components which are technical, legal, and behavioral.
There have been a few serious discussions proposed with regards to distinguishing the terms digital identity and other related terms such as cyber-identity, online-identity, netizen-identity, virtual-identity, e-identity, online-identity, trans-identity. These and other terms are usually employed in the context of virtual communities to describe. Indeed, virtual and digital are incompatible and, by that logic, so are virtual identity and digital identity. Undoubtedly, these conceptual clarifications and introductory lessons help scholars develop a common understanding of digital identity and, in turn, assist organizations in aligning their goals in achieving business returns through deploying digital identity-based products and services.
Digital identity represents a central cornerstone of modern digital life. In this digital age, and mainly within the context of the ambient intelligence paradigm, people, software entities, and devices will readily be recognizable by systems around them. Digital identity has risen in prominence and importance because it helps to make sense of digital culture as well as raises a series of ethical, legal, and social issues concerning the online use of personal data. In addition, digital identity holds an early position in digital identities and their development, digital money, understanding digital identity, the digital identification of legal entities, and the management of virtual identities in sim. Due to the novelty of digital identity as a viable topic in academia, a unified understanding of digital identity is nascent.
Establishing accurate definitions and comprehending the overarching functionality of DePIN are fundamental in seeking to understand the future implications of such developmental technology. The DePIN is a biometric-without-identification-based and multi-device multi-instance multi-application operational solution for tokenized digital identity or digital accounts which is always-on-enabled. Fundamentally, DePIN underpins secure and effortless management of digital identities. By virtue of its always-on functionality, this digital token for identity obviates the need for an identification factor for access control and serves as the secure enclave for managing blockchain-based digital identity or digital accounts tokens and the cryptographic key material for signing and authenticating transactions.
The main task of DePIN is twofold. Firstly, it ensures that the operating device is, through biometric means, being operated by the valid device owner. Second, it will, for some specific applications, by watching the human interaction with the always-on-enabled tokens for digital identity, decide through multi-device orchestration whether the owner of the device is the same as the puppeteer for another orchestration-enabled device. In doing so, DePIN establishes a virtuous circle whereby more precise biometric capability is acquired than any of today’s devices can achieve, for by performing in the always-on mode, it will continuously be observing the many different users of the device. Fundamentally, DePIN will obviate the need for users to remember or store long and unwieldy complex PINs. They can afford to lose a cryptographic device as it is long-term, positively biometrically bound to them through their other devices enabled with orchestration.
Traditional vs. Digital Identity
In the information society we inhabit, personal data has become a crucial tool in countless sectors including economics, education, surveillance, and beyond. As such, a verifiable digital identity, which confirms a link between individuals and their various digital representations (documents, accounts, properties, medical history, etc.), is becoming increasingly necessary. Compared to the traditional identity we possess and use in everyday life, a digital identity is unique in several ways. That is to say, digital identity is based on a primarily digital document or digital identifier that uniquely verifies the identity of a person, a legal entity, or a device in electronic transactions.
In contrast with traditional identity one is naturally endowed with by birth (notwithstanding the possibility that some may go to certain lengths to change or hide it), digital identity is constructed by the means and interests of the database\ owners and digital environments which come together in the process of interaction between the various stakeholders proposing or demanding identity verification. Its centralization/distribution is distinct from the identity we might lay claim to as an aspect of belonging to society, culture, or a veritable religion, as a status bestowed by nationality (i.e. not the culture one is raised in) and race (i.e. ethnicity) and addresses many of the resultant inequities and dependencies, particularly in the modern state, if decentralized. Nonetheless, one’s birth-given name or ethnic background could also be part of a digital identity, either placed in a digital document, registered on a database, or simply used as an identifier. On the other hand, much of a digital document is usually not inherently given; it is chosen and modified to some extent by its subject and the digital officials who codify such data. Digital identity therefore contains a level of artificiality absent from one’s physical or largely unaugmented social presence. Thus, digital identity is constituted neither solely by the subjects to which it pertains nor by the database owners and digital households that birth inter-, con-, and extra-identity. A digital identity is primarily composed of formal (e.g. legal) identification and informal identification. Formal identification is, for instance, a passport, driver’s license, social insurance number (SIN), any portfolio issued by a governmental body, whereas informal identification is corresponding documents issued by private (non-governmental) authorities.
Key Components of Digital Identity
A digital identity might be initially understood as a collection of personal data trusted by organizations. However, this definition provides insufficient detail when it comes to providing operational requirements for smart government, interoperability, system integration, and user control. As a base for adopting a service or a technology, users require an account coupled with logging credentials. The digital identity is a composite of three basic components: user accounts, credentials, and personal data. Traditionally, digital identity management concerns working with credentials. Procedures to recover passwords, to verify the authenticity of users based on their credentials, to refine the security, to develop a confidence level are all part of credential management. A user account is a container used by an information system to store authentication and authorization data about a person and link data to this individual. A credential’s task is to attest to an identity.
The digital identity certification of an individual is a composite supported by the economic feasibility of providing suitable services. The salary a user commands when working is based on the qualifications and experiences certified by documents. Based on these skills, an assessment of the potential for future performance by the organization can be established. Personal data is part of the employment agreements. The quality of the individual’s qualifications documents has a bearing on the cost of verifying and attesting to various claims. The authenticity of the certificate could be verified via different means. Without checking, an endorser can authorize another person’s certificate. The certificate could be on paper or available in electronic form on a CD or an individual hard drive.
Challenges in Digital Identity Management
The management of digital identity has never been more important than it is today. And with this increasing importance comes the burden of several factors, including the intervention of third parties for authorization and validation of transactions and the storage of our personal data. Because the internet is used to make purchases, manage banking services, access health services, communicate with others, and more, our personal data is at risk. Personal data has several sensitive uses and calls for precise data protection to reduce or prevent its misuse. Nonetheless, identity management can be complicated. Users either have multiple usernames and passwords for different applications or use an intermediate identity provider to log in to several services, such as a single sign-on program.
The username/password system, or self-sovereign identity that claims to be a solution, has had little success in reducing the complexity of the identity ecosystem. As a result, there is a need for an original and creative system that can facilitate security, confidentiality, and convenience. Digital identity, decentralization, another disruptive technology, is gaining attention around the globe. All of these decentralized systems, like blockchain and IPFS, aim to offer new solutions to the technological challenges of privacy and security. DePIN: A protocol for decentralized digital identity and access control. No one has the right to control your digital presence in a centralized, opaque way. No one has the right to censor you, so you have the authority to control your content. You desire trustworthy, authenticated and raw communication. As a result, the paper highlights the key issues, categorizing them as PIN problems and then digital identity issues. Finally, the need for a Decentralized Personal Identification Number (DePIN) is discussed.
Benefits of DePIN Technology
The DePIN technology directly addresses the top two challenges regarding digital identity, stated above, and that create primary opportunities for the deployment of blockchain and modern cryptography to reduce currently leading risks and provide resolution for personal information theft and exploitation. The following summary outlines the main benefits of DePIN technology, which is described directly by its functionality of replacing distributed hashing with secure key management controlled by the data owner.
In the modern age of Fintech, the identity of users acting in the digital world becomes increasingly important. Users of the networks first have to register themselves with an identity provider, who then supplies the user with the account and password combinations, and therefore the user has an identity. These combinations are usually used as access credentials for the management of the user’s account, without which the account cannot be accessed and utilized. For a long time, these accounts were effectively accessed by typing a simple password. The list of such chosen weak passwords usually leads to hackers determining and exploiting passwords, which often can result in unauthorized access to an account. This is proving even more significant since this single password is being used to control access to a larger number of the user’s other identities. The DePIN protocol is directly addressing both concerns by utilizing blockchain and PIN (Personal Identification Number) or popularly known as ATM-like PIN.
