You have a digital identity. From cookies to session storage to credit cards stored in the browser to the contents of your crypto wallet and the data on you stored in hundreds of databases across the web, your identity is scattered and its digital.
Our digital identities follow us where we go, and not justjust +1.7% online either. The phone always in your pocket handles payments at checkout now, and for me, even my membership cards are all virtual. This means it’s not only the store I have a membership to that knows about me but the app I used to store those cards.
This sets up a complex structure of puzzle pieces that define who we are as our digital selves. What is more, is that our online identities and our digital selves aren’t an add on anymore, they are a key part of who we are. Having a social media account get stolen, or even someone impersonating you online can have widespread and devastating repercussions. It can lead to the loss of careers, health issues, and most commonly mental health issues.
Our current systems for managing this critical part of our lives have gotten us to where we are today as a digitally native society but they are far from perfect. Passwords are easy to get compromised, and there are even many ways in which two-factor authentication can be spoofed. So how do we get past this?
The W3C, a group largely responsible for setting standards across the web, introduced a standard known as DIDs or Decentralized Identifiers. This has emerged as a potential solution to digital identity management globally and across different technologies, but its adoption still has a long way to go. What’s more, DIDs in their technical documentation are more confusing than they need to be. How do you set up a DID, who sets up a DID, can you have one or many, and who says which are legitimate and which aren’t