World Economic Forum: Identity in a Digital World
Our identity is, literally, who we are, and as the digital technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution advance, our identity is increasingly digital. This digital identity determines what products, services and information we can access – or, conversely, what is closed off to us.
As digital services explode, and billions of elements in our everyday lives become connected to the internet, individuals are losing control of how they are represented digitally in their interactions with institutions. Others lack any digital identity at all, essentially excluding them from digital life.
The result is a challenge to the social contracts that govern the relationships between individuals and institutions in a digital world.
If we fail to act now, we could face a future in which digital identity widens the divide between the digital haves and have-nots, or a future where nearly all individuals lack choice, trust and rights in the online world.
If we act wisely today, digital identities can help transform the future for billions of individuals, all over the world, enabling them to access new economic, political and social opportunities, while enjoying digital safety, privacy and other human rights.
This report explores some ideas for how to achieve that better future, starting with a transformation that puts value on the individual at the centre.
Originally published by the World Economic Forum here.