Digital Identity
Who controls the records that prove you exist in the digital world, and the rights implications of digital identity systems.
The Foundation of All Rights
Legal identity, the ability to prove who you are, is the foundation of nearly every other right. Without identity documents, people cannot vote, open bank accounts, enroll in school, access healthcare, own property, or cross borders. The World Bank estimates that approximately 850 million people worldwide lack official identity documents, effectively rendering them invisible to government systems.
Digital identity systems promise to close this gap. India's Aadhaar, Estonia's e-Residency, and the UN's ID2020 initiative all aim to provide universal digital identity. SDG 16.9 calls for legal identity for all by 2030. But digital identity systems also create new risks: they can enable mass surveillance, exclude people who cannot access technology, and create single points of failure where a system error can strip someone of their identity.