WEF publishes report on decentralized ID, warns of biometrics risks

Roughly 850 million people in the world still do not have an official ID, while some of those that have an ID struggle with a lack of control over privacy and data. Decentralized ID has the promise to deliver digital identity that addresses these issues, but also poses risks and faces challenges, a new report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) says.

The Reimagining Digital ID report lays out a total of 24 recommendations for government officials, regulators and executives, defining risks such as data exploitation, political and technical risks. One of the risks highlighted in the report is the possibility of personal data that is stored centrally being abused for marketing purposes.

“Sensitive data, such as biometrics, carry a high risk of exploitation,” says the report. ”This is especially concerning in the case of marginalized communities such as refugees because it can facilitate discriminatory targeting.”

The best policy, the report notes, is to not collect highly sensitive data such as ethnic affiliation at all, as these are likely vectors for marginalization or oppression.

The technical and policy analysis offers an overview of decentralized ID standards and proposals such as Verifiable Credentials (VCs), decentralized identifiers (DID), zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), soulbound tokens (SBTs). It also lists possible reasons why decentralized ID has not yet been widely adopted along with case studies.

The report was authored by a group of contributors led by Aiden Slavin, lead of WEF’s Crypto Impact and Sustainability Accelerator. It was supported by a working group chaired by ID2020 Head of Advocacy and Communications, and working group members acknowledged include DIACC’s Joni Brennan, Privacy International Senior Research Officer Tom Fisher and former ID2020 Founder Dakota Gruener, OpenCRVS Director of Product Strategy and Sustainability Edward Duffus, representatives of Accenture and Okta.

It comes just three months after WEF’s Digital Identity Initiative discussion on international policy and standards framework that recommended using blockchain technology in building privacy-preserving digital ID infrastructure.

This month, the WEF also issued The Global Risk Report 2023 laying out current crises and their potential ramifications. The so-called Insight Report warns about the potential risks of biometric identification technologies to digital privacy.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  blockchain  |  decentralized ID  |  decentralized identifiers (DIDs)  |  digital identity  |  World Economic Forum