Privacy Begins with Reliably Identity

An improperly designed and deployed universal identity may be misused to erode privacy; this fact has been highlighted often. An often overlooked fact is that a properly designed and deployed universal identity credential can be the individual's personal fortress of privacy.

The public debate about privacy often cites the need for the individual to determine exactly how various pieces of information about herself or himself may be used, and by whom. For that principle to work, the identity credential itself must be an information gatekeeping tool.

Through the use of three key elements (1) zk technologies (2) public key infrastructure, and (3) the use of legal methods that make information about an individual his or her personal intellectual property, we need not treat the security of the public and the privacy of the individual as though they are antithetical. We can - and must - have both.

Individual Membership Section of The Authenticity Alliance supports the use of the Personal Information Ownership Infrastructure (PIOI), a component of QEI, to put individuals in true control of information about themselves.