My initial post was misunderstood by many, so here is a clarification: static identities (name + biometric + PIN + password + email + account-number etc) once compromised (often in stealth) are repeatedly exploited. An evolving identity, by contrast, dodges its would-be thieves. I gave the illustration of Frida, the fraudster, who wears a toupee and makeup to look like Alice, and fools Alice’s friends. But when a friend asks Frida about the joke they heard last week at the party, and Frida is clueless, then she draws suspicion. This is the principle of the evolved identity. Alice, a peer in a network, undergoes some exchange with Bob (also a peer). Both Alice and Bob record the exchange in their identity ‘track’. Same for all exchanges between peers. Now when Alice wishes to gain access to a confidential system, the security protocol in the system will have the option to explore Alice identity at any depth it chooses. If this access is very critical, then the security protocol will check a large number of network interactions carried on by Alice, and for each recorded interaction, it will check the opposite peer to see if Alice says she talked to Bob yesterday, then Bob will confirm the exchange. The more critical the access, the more of Alice history will be checked by the system security.
The evolving identity will have to be encoded and hashed to protect privacy and avoid lengthy identity tracks. The network will have to use a ‘network currency’: security checkers may need to pay to identity verifying nodes, in a currency that would give them a clear network advantage (but a currency that does not trade outside the network).
We at
BitMint are developing trusted Tethered Money platforms, where payment is exercised real time, very fast, in small or large amounts. But if we don’t solve the identity fraud issue we will not be able to realize the potential of this digital money ecosystem. So we are looking to realize the evolving identity concept in a broad, loose network, large or small. A general ledger is an option, yet seems weak, and below the Nakamoto threshold. The dynamics appears fitting the IOTA innovation. So there we go. We call upon anyone developing identity-critical application to consider a joint effort.
