The third iteration of the Web, Web 3, aims to put more control over web content in users’ hands. It promises to be built on blockchain, eliminating all big intermediaries, including centralized governing bodies. The vision for a Web3 world is for people to control their own data and be able to bounce around from social media to email to shopping using a single personalized account, creating a public record on the blockchain of all of that activity. What does this mean from an identity management point of view? We will explore some important questions that should be addressed as the future of the internet unfolds, including the impact that limited oversight in crypto currency will have, including poor authentication; the role of decentralized identities and private key management; and finally, the privacy aspects of having transaction data on the blockchain and what that means for attackers that can potentially compile new identities or further identity theft as we know it today. Whether it is Web3 or beyond, these issues will be critical to build trust on the internet of the future.
Gaia-X Federation Services is a European project that promotes innovation through data sharing and represents the next generation of the data infrastructure ecosystem. To see how we bring about an open, transparent, and secure digital ecosystem, we thus share a practical example and working code of the Gaia-X for the Notarization API.
The aim of this product is to establish digital trust in disclosed data (paper or electronic) for Gaia-X participants to use in the Gaia-X ecosystem. To reach this goal, an issuance module to transform data into digital verifiable credential (VC) is needed. With this component, certification institutions such as government, lawyers, etc. are able to prove the identity and provide data of any organization that desires to be a Gaia-X participant. Thus deliver the desired verified attestation as a digital representation.
This use case on enterprise identity is an example of a contribution to the meta-platform concept: a platform that enables and fosters participant-controlled value transfer across and among other platforms and participants. An open, interoperable, portable, decentralized identity framework is thus a prime candidate for becoming such a meta-platform and for leveraging this aggregate network effect.
