Microsoft And The UN To Provide Digital IDs For Undocumented People

 
It is difficult to live without identification. In many cases, you are excluded from banking, health care, voting rights and other basic concepts. Microsoft and its partners could give those many undocumented (1.1 billion of them, in fact) a shot at the identity they need, however. It is working with Accenture and Avanade in a United Nations-backed digital identification effort that would offer legal recognition to those who would otherwise be lost to registrars. The prototype uses blockchain technology to give people a trusted ID that can follow them anywhere, but still respecting privacy and security.

Instead of grouping the identifiers in a central database, the initiative is based on a distributed database driven by trusted parties spread across the chain of blocks. You do not have to worry about a single doorman who holds the keys to your life, or the risk of losing access because you have traveled to another country. And although it relies on biometrics (such as fingerprints and iris scans) for authentication, any personally identifiable information is deliberately kept out of the chain and exposed only when it grants access.

Digital IDs are part of ID2020, a public-private partnership that drives the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal of giving every human being an official identity. It could be a long time before these identifications become available, let alone in use by many undocumented people. That being said, it could represent a breakthrough if it works as promised. As they enter the system, refugees are more likely to receive help wherever they are. Those with relatively stable lives, meanwhile, could take advantage of government and financial services that were previously off limits.

This is just one part of a larger solution. There has to be assurance that digital ID holders will get the services they need, which is both a political and a technical challenge. As long as everything falls into place, however, it could help many people start a better life.