Has Every Digital ID Approach Basically Failed?

Digital Identity company Folio sees its mission as to “enable everyone to manage their own identity and rid the world of plastic cards”. With offices in London, Singapore and California, Folio says it is working to do that by making securing digital credentials on a smartphone “the new normal”.

Folio recently released a special White Paper, The Identity Revolution, and we sat down with its Chief Marketing Officer, Paul White, to find out more.

Morning Mr White. Can you start by telling us about Folio – what is the basic company history and value proposition here?

At Folio, we want to enable every individual to manage their own identity and rid the world of plastic cards. Our multi-purpose, secure digital wallet makes registering for new services simple for the consumer. Ongoing authentication is then more convenient and reliable than other commonly used methods, such as user names and one-time passcodes. 

Take a government department that wants to enable sensitive digital services, for example.  It can register a citizen once using a secure, high-assurance process that is entirely digital and so immediately enable an initial set of services. Additional parts of the public sector can then leverage the verified, registered digital user, saving money and time enabling further services.

Interesting. So let’s tell me the idea behind The Identity Revolution. Why did you guys produce this asset, and why now in particular?

The speed-of-change for Digital Identity is extraordinary, and gaining more pace, with government and the private sector adopting technology to address silos and point solutions. In parallel, we see standards emerging internationally with some localised collaboration across industries and government. 

Now is the time to take a pulse check: a pulse check on what is really providing Identity value, what just isn’t fit-for-purpose. This paper does just that; so we look at various ‘paradigms’ through more than one lens, aiming to show the impact on the individual user – the citizen, customer, employee as well as the business or government. 

Why do you think the ‘old Identity paradigms’ is a lost battle? Some people might be surprised you put Blockchain in there, for instance?

Each has its merits and limitations, let’s be honest. All have been built within yesterday’s practical boundaries of tech, trust and standards, but we believe we are now at a point where we can make a more strategic leap forward. That may include Distributed Ledger, to respond to your question, in some way of course, but the paper sets out why DLT isn’t the perfect fit for ideal Identity management.

So you’re saying none of these other ID approaches work properly? Isn’t that a strong claim? What solution do you think could work?

Actually, I think it’s a perfectly factual statement. None have delivered on the promises and potential of Digital Identity across all the critical metrics. Advancements have been made in registration, using secure Digital vaults, image analysis and so on. Digital issuance in some cases have cut out the plastic middle man, and authentication has begun to move away from just ‘something you know’. 

There is a new way that stands apart, one that is capable of dealing with the challenges and opportunities of the information age; a way that delivers unrivalled security and convenience, reducing the risk of fraud, data promiscuity and barriers to adoption. For us, we introduce this concept of the ‘Super Identity’ in the White Paper. 

I can see you put forward your new suggested ‘design axioms’  and why are they better than the other options out there?

We have set out a framework for a new paradigm that maximises user experience and convenience and brings new levels of assurance to businesses online and off. We define five design axioms in The Identity Revolution:

• Register once, use many One-click registration and authentication across unlimited relying parties

• Unique to a person Verifiably coupled to a unique, real, physical person

• User-centric and privacy-first User empowerment, privacy and consent driven

• Seamless online and offline Convenient use in any context, remote or in person

• Super Identity must be multidimensional Beyond ID, to multiple, verifiable attributes.

Intriguing. I’m tempted to ask, Mr White, ultimately, what is the takeaway here – the message to the UK public sector around Digital ID from this work? Is there a different message for the extended ID ecosystem, too?

It is not just a UK public sector issue, although this is clearly critical timing, given the variety of approaches being considered by UK government. More broadly, industry needs to cooperate and develop an open ecosystem that embraces the best possible incarnation of digital identity. 

Folio is designed from the ground up around the five Super Identity design axioms, incidentally. I’m sure through collaboration and market innovation, these can be further refined over time. 

Ultimately, with The Identity Revolution is a start, putting some of the vision we have at Folio into something that can be adopted, challenged or extended out there. We’d love to hear the views of the Think Digital Identity For Government 2020 community on our ideas, too, of course.

For a free download of the Folio thinkpiece on new ways ahead in ID, click here.