We talk about digital identity as a bridge. A sleek, invisible key that opens doors to bank accounts, healthcare, and the formal economy. The sales pitch is polished: one credential, verifiable anywhere, that finally brings everyone into the fold. But I’ve...
In March 2018, Texas election officials sent county registrars a list of 95,000 registered voters flagged as potential non-citizens who should be purged from the rolls. The list came from matching voter registration records against Department of Public Safety data on...
Digital identity systems get sold as a clean fix for broken bureaucracies. Faster payments, less fraud, a tidy line from citizen to state. But for a huge number of people, the shift from paper to pixels isn’t progress. It’s a door...
Digital identity systems get sold to us as a ticket to the modern world. Governments and international bodies tout them as the key to financial inclusion, efficient public services, and secure authentication. But for millions of people, these systems aren’t a...
Digital identity systems are sold as a sleek fix for a messy world. Governments and global agencies tout them as the key to unlocking financial services, simplifying bureaucracy, and fighting fraud. The pitch is seductive: give everyone a verifiable digital ID,...
Digital identity systems are sold to us as a universal good—a sleek, efficient way to unlock bank accounts, government benefits, and a seat at the civic table. But for millions of people, the push toward mandatory digital IDs isn’t a bridge...
Digital identity systems get sold on efficiency, security, and the promise of bringing everyone into the fold. Governments and global bodies pitch them as a straight line to formal recognition, a bank account, a smoother interaction with public services. But scratch...
We like to talk about digital identity systems as if they’re neutral—clean, modern, inevitable. Governments and corporations sell them as tools of inclusion: a way to give the undocumented a legal existence, to make services more efficient, to cut down on...
Talk to a government minister or a tech vendor about digital identity, and you’ll hear a lot about efficiency, modernization, and frictionless access to services. The pitch is seductive: biometric databases and mobile authentication can cut through bureaucracy, reduce fraud, and...
We hear a lot about the shiny promise of digital identity. Governments and corporations sell it as a one-stop fix for efficiency, security, and financial inclusion. A single, verifiable credential that opens the door to banking, healthcare, voting, and social safety...
There’s a quiet assumption stitched into the global push for digital identity. Hand someone a verifiable digital credential, the thinking goes, and they’ll finally be seen. The unbanked farmer in a distant village, the refugee crossing a border, the homeless person...
When a government or a big corporation rolls out a shiny new digital ID system, the pitch is always the same: speed, security, inclusion. But on the ground, the story gets messier. I’ve spent years watching well-intentioned systems systematically lock out...