Liminal suggests a way to have your digital ID PIE and eat it too

As increasing reliance on digital identities and corresponding concerns prompt a range of proposed architectures and systems for ensuring trust in transactions, Liminal is proposing another way to look at the future of digital ID.

The 37-page report on ‘The Life of PIEs’ considers a future in which ‘Personal Identity Ecosystems’ define the scope and nature of digital identity transactions, and how we will arrive at that future.

Companies are being forced by consumer expectations to re-imagine consumer digital identity altogether, the report’s six authors write, while ecosystems are springing up around Big Tech, payments, and governments.

The integrity of personally identifiable information is not sufficiently trusted, however, and Liminal claims that there is a consensus that the true potential of digital identity in online and offline environments is being held back by the status quo.

The four end-user requirements of PIEs, according to Liminal, are privacy, commerce, reputation, and data protection. Companies that can meet those key conditions, while providing trust and ubiquity, can succeed in this market through collaboration.

The resulting “PIEs will be fragile collectives that require networked relationships.”

They are characterized by network effects that extend digital identities from applicable in 1:N relationships to N:N relationships, with consumer using digital wallets and personal data stores to exercise autonomy over their credentials.

Fragmentation, friction, a lack of consumer education, privacy and user control, and data security are the five challenges that define the current digital ID landscape, the report suggests.

Liminal notes that there is a disconnect between what people think they should do and what they actually do to manage their digital identities. A consumer identity survey by the firm indicates that a third of consumers who consider themselves ‘highly knowledgeable’ about how to protect their identity online use the same password for all online accounts. Nearly a third of the same group avoids biometrics use out of concern for privacy.

The firm goes on to identify five change-drivers in the current marketplace, each related to increasing digitization or consumer expectations.

The report also notes the Liminal Digital Identity Landscape, which divides its 33 segment tiles between those focused on consumers and those focused on organizations. As in past OWI Digital Identity Landscapes, behavioral biometrics and biometrics are each identified as discreet market segments.

Liminal also examines U.S. consumer trust in financial institutions compared the federal government, and the relative likelihood that financials, payment networks, telecoms, Big Tech and governments will take a lead role in the establishment of PIEs. The conclusion is that no single vertical is positioned to tackle the challenge of future digital identities on its own.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  consumer adoption  |  data protection  |  digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  identity management  |  Liminal  |  Personal Identity Ecosystems  |  privacy  |  secure transactions