Why should government be interested in UCD ?
UCD can – over time – provide a range of necessary online applications which government needs, but cannot easily provide itself because of the need for such applications to be used not only in the individual to government relationship, but also between individual., and between an individual and a private sector service provder. These applications […]
How does UCD differ from gov.uk Verify ?
gov.uk Verify was a scheme to enable individuals to prove their legal identity online to government. Government could easily have chosen to award a single large contract to just one identity provider, and then presented the result under the gov.uk brand. However, it chose instead to award contracts to several Identity Providers (IdPs, initially seven), […]
Who will pay the capital costs of UCD ?
UCD can only developed as a collaboration between the UK‘s public and private sectors. It’s for this reason that the original development company, PIB-d Ltd, was set up as a joint-venture, half owned by (parts of) the education sector and half privately. But PIB-d was premature. Now UCDx has been set up – as a […]
Why can UCD not be led by the UK government ?
UCD aims to be ubiquitous, a bit like a payment system, and so used by individuals to maintain online relationships with organisations across the public and private sectors, and with other individuals. Thus, even though UCD is clearly infrastructure, design and implementation cannot be led by government. Why ? Because government’s remit is limited to […]
Will UCD prevent statistical /epidemiological research ?
No. Government departments like to maintain large databases of personal data, in part at least to enable statistical research as to what policy measures prove effective. Examples include – in education – the National Pupil Data Base (NPDB) and the Learning Records Service. But these databases are assembled without really asking the individuals involved whether […]
Does UCD conflict with Investigatory Powers legislation ?
No. See answer to ‘Will my wallet provider (or others) have access to my data ?’ above.
How does UCD differ from OneLogin ?
OneLogin is a system provided by the Government Digital Service as a successor to gov.uk Verify. It comprises a single-sign-on facility, coupled with a ‘back-office’ identity-proofing-provider. An individual can use OneLogin to interact with multiple government departments; if necessary they will be asked to proof their identity – by showing a passport or driving licence, […]
Why should a bank be interested in UCD ?
Retail banking has remained much the same for a long time. Even web banking is just a new front-end for traditional back-office systems. UCD may be the driver of change. We envisage that banks will soon begin to offer digital wallets, integrated into web banking applications, and enabling individuals to control the flow of personal […]
Will UCD use Blockchain?
Not necessarily. UCD can be built without block-chain – which is just one technical option and in no way a panacea. If used at all, the most likely application is for the exchange of public keys between parties.
Will UCD software be open-standard / open-source?
UCDx will maintain and enforce open standards to ensure interoperability and account portability between different wallet providers. Whether any software components are made available open-source is a secondary issue, to which the answer is not yet clear. However, the Open Wallet Foundation was set up in 2002, as an offshoot of the Linux Foundation, to encourage […]