What is a digital ID? It might seem that it is an easy question to answer. After all, we are all online and identify ourselves with websites using a range of credentials. But are those credentials really a digital ID? It’s a more complex question than many of us realise, and to understand what a digital ID is, we need to start with establishing what is really an ID.
To begin to address the question of what is an identity, Enterprise Times spoke with Kalev Pihl, CEO of SK ID Solutions. It has been the trust provider behind the Estonian national identity scheme for over 20 years. It has been behind the mobile ID card in Estonia and Latvia and the Estonia e-residency.
It seems we all tend to have many digital IDs. Pihl said, “We have digital identities that do not have to be connected with anything in the real world, have no value outside of the context they are used.” That is why we often have different credentials for different websites and digital services.
But what happens when we tie that back to a physical person? Pihl says, “any dataset that is unique for that person is the identity.” However, he goes on to say “It’s one thing to have the identity and the other to prove that you actually own that identity.”
The challenge is, as governments and businesses move everything to the digital realm, we need digital identities that identify the physical person and can be trusted. In this podcast. Pihl talks about those challenges and the European Union’s plans for a bloc-wide digital ID.
To hear what Pihl had to say, listen to the podcast.
Where can I get it?
You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the player below. Alternatively, click on any of the podcast services below and go to the Enterprise Times podcast page.
