Comment by Confiks | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Confiks | Hacker News Reader

Shameless plug: IRMA Authentication is an open-source app [1] [2] and protocol that offers privacy-friendly attribute based authentication and signing using Camenisch and Lysyanskaya's Idemix [3].

It's currently heavily focused towards The Netherlands, where citizens can obtain attributes from the Dutch civil registry, such as name, home address and age. These attributes can then be selectively disclosed directly to a relying party, without the identity provider being able to see the transaction [4]. Multiple disclosures are also unlinkable as long as the attributes themselves are not identifying.

It's not currently using the verifiable claims data model, but it would very much fit it. It also doesn't use a 'blockchain', simply because it's not necessary to do so, and makes it all a lot less complicated.

[1] https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/irma-authenticatie/id1294092... or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.irmacard.c...

[2] https://github.com/privacybydesign

[3] https://privacybydesign.foundation/publications/

[4] https://privacybydesign.foundation/meeting-slides/slides-8-3...

> It's currently heavily focused towards The Netherlands, where citizens can obtain attributes from the Dutch civil registry, such as name, home address and age. These attributes can then be selectively disclosed directly to a relying party, without the identity provider being able to see the transaction [4]. Multiple disclosures are also unlinkable as long as the attributes themselves are not identifying.

The fact that the government is involved in this is utterly amazing to me. Are you aware of the conditions which brought about this situation in The Netherlands? I'm wondering why other governments are not following this example, given the issues we've seen with identifiers like Social Security in the US.

In Belgium we have had the eID for years. Our national ID cards are smart cards. The idea of having to rely on private institution such as credit card issuers for identity seems ludicrous to most here.

https://eid.belgium.be/en/what-eid

In the US there has been widespread pushback about national id. Civil liberties folks don’t like big brother, immigrant advocates fear making it impossible for some populations to drive, and the conservatives worry about states rights, especially with respect to voting.

I can't ascribe good faith to conservative concerns anymore. It's absolutely insane that federal elections aren't standardized across the states.

Never mind that "states rights" only seems to be about focusing power in the hands of local elites instead of national elites. That might sound like a good thing, until you realize that every nutjob that owns a car dealership can basically become a feudal lord.

"States rights" is about lowering the cost of corruption to something that your stupid neighbor can afford...mind you that it only exists constitutionally so that your stupid neighbor could own slaves.

Believe me, I don't. But the success of people who are dedicated from keeping poor and brown people from voting is enabled by others with perhaps better intended but equally inflexible intentions.

For example, to avoid the potential tyranny of national ID, we have 50 different administrations of ID with Federally mandated consistent standards, plus US Passports/Passport Cards/Frequent traveller cards, plus completely unregulated schemes for managing identity by multiple private sector companies.

IRMA has existed for a while, it's a non-profit spinoff from a Dutch university. But to my knowledge it is nowhere as widely known or accepted by relying parties as DigiD[1], this system is run by the government and based on passing the BSN (citizen service number)[2] to the relying party with SAML. It exists since 2005 and has become quite widespread: I can use it to file my taxes, make an appointment at pretty much any municipality town hall, and log in to my health insurance provider to name a couple of things.

Before DigiD, the Netherlands has had a central digital population register since 1994 called the Gemeentelijke Basisadministratie Persoonsgegevens, but before that analogue version of a population register was in use for quite some time as well.

[1]: https://www.digid.nl/en/about-digid/ [2]: https://www.government.nl/topics/personal-data/citizen-servi...

We can't have one of those in the US because lots of people are afraid that it will be the "mark of the beast" from the book of Revelation in the bible.

I'm not kidding.

Nothing would make more sense at this point then some kind of federal identity standard that used real crypto to prove someone's identity. The US Postal Service already has offices in every community that could be used for enrollment. For what it's worth, the Federal Government does this for all it's employees.

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