It won’t change your life. But doing stuff on line will gradually become better.
You won’t have to manage as many usernames and passwords, or other authentication mechansims.
You will enjoy bank-grade security, & better privacy.
And life will become easier, since you will be able to do more things online more easily, all based around the simple idea of controlling, precisely, the sharing of your trsutworthy personal data between differerent service providers. Applications include:
- building up a lifelong, portable, personal achievement record, to be used when applying to a new learning provider or for employment
- sharing proof-of-identity from an identity-proofing-provider (either commercial or government) to be used when
- opening an account with a new financial service provider
- proving Right to Work to a new employer
- proving Right to Rent to a new landord
- interacting with government
- sharing
- proof of student status from a learning provider to a merchant offering student discounts
- proof of entitlement to preferential treatment (free prescriptions, blue badges etc)
- marketing preferences with a service provider, and changing them easily
- loyalty card number automatically, as you make payment
- proof of age for age-restricted purchases, with just one click, as part of a payment transaction
- seeing all your financial accounts (current, savings, pension, life insurance etc) in one place;
- helping someone you care for – perhaps a child or an elderly parent – interact online; and
- communicating securely with any service provider, much as we can do using WhatsApp.
David Alexander, the founder of Mydex CIC, describes the problems solved by user-control-of-data as reducing Friction, Effort, Risk and Cost, or “FERC”. He is not wrong.