Identity Crisis: Global Challenges of Identity

Protection in a Networked World

Alison Knight

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• We intentionally reveal, and unintentionally leak, our identity information in many ways

• From ‘digital fingerprints’ to ‘online personae’:

– possibility to record and store everything (technically and economically)

– possibility to analyse identity data– possibility to do massive personalisation

• Identity value and the ‘control’ conundrum

IDENTITY CHALLENGES

‘HOT ON YOUR DIGITAL TRAIL’

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WHO AM I?

(biographical) (personae)

Real World Digital World

(biometrics) (cybermetrics)

Who do I think I am?

What is my personality?

Who do others say I am?

How do I act?

How am I represented?

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Super Identity?

(E)IDENTITY TO (E-)IDENTIFICATION

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HOW CAN I BE SURE YOU ARE YOU?

• Authentication, trust and reputation

• Different approaches to identification and verification

– Something you are– Something you have– Something you know

• Bridging links with confidence between the real world and the cyber world

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Super ID?

THE ‘SUPER IDENTITY’ PROJECT

• How can we accurately identify people online and detect online identity misuse?

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CRIMINALS AND THE INDIVIDUAL

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• Identity theft and identity crime on the rise globally

• The extent of the online problem

• Risks and vulnerabilities

• The challenges of digital identity management

Deceive

COMMERCE AND THE INDIVIDUAL

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• Identity as online currency

• Targeted advertising

• Data aggregation

• Function creep

• Identity ‘de-contextualised’

• ‘Big Data’

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PROFILING: AUTOMATED LINKS AND PREDICTIONS

STATES AND THE INDIVIDUAL

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• Identity policies

• Key policy activity areas

• eID cards

• Biometric technologies

• Covert surveillance

• Policy decision-making: balancing tensions between public and private interests

SOCIAL AND LEGAL•  Social acceptability - researching teenagers’

attitudes around personal data and online self portrayal

• How can I protect my identity legally? Do existing models go far enough?

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PROTECTING IDENTITY – EXISTING LEGAL MODELS

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A right to privacy

• A ‘redress’ model

• A relative right

• Obscures ‘mis’-identity concerns

Data protection

• A ‘control’ model

• Fair processing principles

• ‘Informed consent’ concerns

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LEGAL RIGHTS IN OUR (DIGITAL) IDENTITY?

Copyright?

Database rights? A human right to identity?

Confidential information?

Contract?

Personality rights?

IS THIS ENOUGH TO PROTECT ‘ME’?

A right to be forgotten?

A right to be made anonymous?

Property ownership?

A UN Charter of digital identity?

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1. Techno-regulation

2. Risk and context aware

3. Data stewardship

4. Greater accountability

5. Greater transparency

6. More empowered individuals

7. Citizen-centric identity policies

8. Internationalism

LEGAL IDENTITY PRINCIPLES

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CONCLUSIONThe identity landscape is changing:• More opportunities, more risks

Converging drivers for identity policies worldwide:• How best to police identity misuse and ensure fair

outcomes?

Many legal models have not kept pace:• We need to take a holistic perspective on modern

identity – identity as “doing”, not just being

Code and market and norms and law:• We need inclusive dialogues

The future of identity: • Many challenges lie ahead…

INCREASINGLY NETWORKED IDENTITIES IN AN INCREASINGLY NETWORKED WORLD

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Steve Saxby & Alison Knight “Identity Crisis: Global Challenges to Identity

Protection in a Networked Age” www.superidentity.org/

Thank you for listeningQuestions?