Case Story: Authenticated Anonymity

Summary	There are times when proving one's age is sensible, but I don't want to leave an audit trail.
Group / workshop	Digital Identities	Status	seed
Project details...

Situation

What was the setting in which this case study occurred?

Children, especially teenagers, do silly things. And then they publicise it through their Social Network. Great fun… until they come to get a job, stand for public office or whatever, when it all comes out in public. Hmmm… how to protect them from themselves? Identity comes into this as an online identity will always have a history and is what links an individual's activities together - that's the point isn't it?

An adult goes into an off licence and buys a bottle of Scotch. The cashier can see that the shopper is over 18. Cash is paid, the transaction is complete with no electronic record. Now do the same transaction online. The age-verification step has to be carried out in some fashion, that's OK, BUT it's the fact that there is now a record of that transaction associated with the identity that is the problem. OK, change scotch to porn, or a device that spots speed traps or other things that are perfectly legal to buy but, for whatever reason, one may wish to remain private.

Task

What was the problem to be solved, or the intended effect?

The problem with digital identities is that to be useful they need to be accurate. I may have multiple personas (actually I'm really boring, there's just me but hey...) but if I'm going to use a secure ID then it's probably going to be linked to real data about my address, National Insurance number etc. And then when I use that ID, I'm being tracked. A friend of mine (who is a criminal defence lawyer) was recently given the phone and SMS records of his client that went back 5 years. Tie that kind of data in with a digital ID and it's potentially extremely damaging. This applies to people of all ages but comes into focus with vulnerable youngsters who may have very good reason to wish to hide their online activity from an abuser.

Somewhere along the line, Digital IDs need to have a 'take what you need to know for now but don't log this transaction" option.

Actions

What was done to fulfil the task?

Results

What happened? Was is a success? What contributed to the outcomes?

Lessons Learned

What did you learn from the experience?

Licensing

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