Identity is one use case of the blockchain that has many people excited. For the first time, an individual has the potential to create a true, immutable identity distributed across an entire network.
As Consensus 2016 wrapped up earlier this week, a group of thought-leaders who have been working in the identity space for decades presented their beliefs on what to consider when building an identity system using blockchain.
Christopher Allen, the principal architect at bitcoin sidechain firm Blockstream, echoed the sentiment of other panelists about the duality of identity on the blockchain.
He said: "Blockchain, combined with identity, is a two edged sword. The best, we can hold the powerful accountable for their actions. Transparency, all the different types of things that happened in the 2008 crash, all of that can be avoided with identity and identity services on the blockchain. The worst is we weaponize identity for the powerless." Allen gave the Aadhaar card project passed this March in India as an example of the positive and negative.
On the one hand, he explained, the ID card system gives nearly 1 billion citizens a way to prove who they are, which allows for fair elections and tracking of abuse.
But on the other hand, he cautioned that during the 1930s, Holland had the best civil service structure in Europe. When the Nazis invaded, he said, more Dutch Jews died than Jews in Germany.
"They [Holland] knew who [the Jews] were, who their friends were, who their family was, and where the businesses were," he said.
From this, he explained that every individual must be the root of their own identity and control its administration. "No one may charge rent or be able to revoke another’s identity," he said. I am my identity Paul Ferris, founder & CEO of London-based identity collaboration project ObjectChain Collab […]
