In the modern context, where the world is turning digital daily, individual privacy and digital rights are a burning issue stated Bahaa Abdul Hadi. Here centralized architecture stores the information in giant silos, which proved to be susceptible to hacking or inappropriate use. Thus, the need for more control over the attributes characterizing personal identity has necessitated increased interest in decentralized digital identity. It allows users greater control and choice, yet making it possible to interrelate securely online has attracted them.

The self-sovereign identity (SSI) is a model for managing digital identity in which the individual user is at the centre. In other words, the individual creates and controls their identity separate from any centralized authority or service provider. Some key principles that underline self-sovereign identity are:

User control – People must own and control their digital identity and personal data. No centralized authority should have the power to take such control away from the individuals.

Ownership – Users must own and control their online identity and personal data. The identity of a person should not depend on service providers either.

Access – Users must have a full say to whoever is given access to their given data set and under what terms. Identity attributes must not be accessible by others without the consent realized.

Transparency – Users have to look through how their data are used. The system’s functioning must be open for scrutiny by users with the inclusion that they are allowed audit trails.

Persistence – The identity should persist with or without an active service provider. If a service is shut down, the user will still hold control of his digital identity.

Portability – A little transfer of information and identity characteristics between different service providers can be used.

Interoperability – Identities should work spanning organizational and jurisdictional limits.

Consent – Data minimization and limited use purposes will protect privacy. Consent – Users are to consent to share their data.

SSI may allow the shifting of power and control over the digital identities back to individuals. It presents a model that tech giants can undertake to minimize monopoly control over personal data.

Leveraging Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs)

Decentralized identifiers (DIDs) are a key building block of self-sovereign identity. A DID is a globally unique identifier that does not require a centralized authority. Using blockchain, distributed ledger technology, and public key cryptography, individuals can create globally unique DIDs and manage them independently.

DIDs resolve to DID documents containing cryptographic material, verification methods, and service endpoints for interacting with the identity owner. For example, a DID document could contain the public key needed to verify digital signatures from that identity owner. It could also contain endpoints for messaging services where the owner can be contacted.

By leveraging DIDs and DID documents, individuals can prove control over their digital identity without reliance on any centralized authority. DIDs can be decentralized across multiple systems and vendors to avoid a single point of failure. This improves privacy, security, and user control. It enables identity owners to share only the information necessary for a particular transaction or service.

Building an Ecosystem of Trust

Building on a self-sovereign identity would involve an ecosystem of standards, services, and trust frameworks. Inevitably, as with any identity system, some building blocks are composed of:

Verifiable credentials – W3C standards like Verifiable Credentials make it easy for identity owners to share identity attributes securely, such as proofs of education or employment.

Selective disclosure – In those techniques, identity owners can only share the minimum information required for a given transaction. Therefore, the level of exposure to personal data is limited.

Reputation systems – The decentralized reputation systems are another tool that provides trust-building mechanisms between the participants of an identity ecosystem.

Interoperability – Common standards, such as DIDs/DIDComm, enable every instance of an identity wallet to work smoothly across all other instances and services.

This trust ecosystem makes it safe for people to use their digital identities across services on the open web without centralized bottlenecks. Work by organizations such as the Decentralized Identity Foundation and Trust over IP Foundation is making big moves toward getting these ecosystem parts completed.

Preserving Digital Rights in the Future

Decentralized digital identity may help in preserving some of the basic digital rights that are more threatened, but not limited to:

  • The right to privacy and control of personal data
  • Freedom of expression on the internet without censorship and surveillance
  • Access of citizens to digital services without undue collection of data
  • Prevention of monopolistic control to identity provision

With individuals able to control their digital identities via user-managed wallets, we can prevent personal data from being exploited without active consent. Services must request access to identity attributes rather than hoarding user data.

Self-sovereign identity returns to individuals their digital lives. Decentralized systems of identity can regenerate balance and save important digital rights for the future with the help of data minimization and privacy-preserving standards. The time has come for this paradigm. The article has been authored by Bahaa Abdul Hadi and has been published by the editorial board of Identity Herald. For more information, please visit www.identityherald.com.