TL;DR
- Digital identity is proof of who we’re online. It helps verify and authenticate our presence on digital platforms.
- Legacy systems present significant privacy and security concerns due to their centralized control.
- Web3 solutions like Ready revolutionize digital identity and offer enhanced privacy and user autonomy through decentralization.
Digital identity – most of us rely on it daily but may not fully grasp what it is or its implications. We’ve grown accustomed to these online personas, but serious flaws have also emerged around their security, privacy, and control.
This article will show you what digital identity means, how it currently works, and major issues to be aware of. We’ll also explore innovations that offer greater privacy and user control.
What is Digital Identity?
Digital identities are profiles you have on online platforms when you create accounts with them. They’ve become our passports in the online world. With a few clicks or taps, we can shop, bank, communicate, and access services through unique digital profiles that encompass personal details. Just as driver’s licenses and passports validate us in the physical world, these virtual identities confirm who we are online.
The Growth of Centralized Digital Identity Systems
The last couple of years have witnessed explosive growth in social media and communication platforms.
From the early days of chat rooms and forums to the sophisticated ecosystems of Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, our digital interactions have evolved dramatically. These platforms have become integral to our daily lives, shaping how we connect, share, and even conduct business.
To support this digital revolution, the tech world needed robust systems to manage user identities. These systems were designed to streamline user access, ensuring that John from New York and John from London, despite sharing a name, had distinct online identities.
How Do These Systems Work?
At first, an email address was often all that was required to create an account. This was convenient, as emails could be created easily and in abundance.
However, as the digital landscape matured, platforms sought more stringent verification methods. Many started demanding phone number verification. This transition was not just about security but also about ensuring genuine user engagement.
Fast forward to today, and the stakes have risen even higher. Some platforms now insist that each user maintains only one account under their real name. This push for authenticity has reached a point where certain platforms even require government IDs to verify a user’s identity.
At a basic level, when you sign up for a service, the platform assigns you a unique identifier linked to your email. Every time you log in, the system checks the credentials you provide against its database. If there’s a match, you gain access; if not, you’re locked out.
This process ensures that only you, or someone with your credentials, can access your account. All these registration and verification steps are managed in-house, with data stored in the platform’s proprietary databases.
Benefits of Traditional Digital Identity Systems
From the provider’s perspective, these legacy systems bring many advantages:
- Combating Spam and Fake Accounts: By tying accounts to unique identifiers like phone numbers or government IDs, platforms can drastically reduce the creation of spam or fake accounts. This results in a more genuine user base and enhances the overall platform integrity.
- Enhanced Data Linking: When users are tied to unique, verifiable identifiers, it becomes easier for platforms to track and link user data across different apps and services. This interconnected web of data allows platforms to build a comprehensive user profile.
- Tailored User Experiences: With a richer user profile, platforms can offer highly personalized experiences. This ranges from showing relevant ads to understanding user preferences at a granular level, from content suggestions to product recommendations.
- Improved Monetization: A genuine user base combined with detailed user profiles allows platforms to present more targeted advertising opportunities. This can lead to higher ad engagement rates and, consequently, increased revenue.
The Need for New Approaches
While they’re the foundational work behind the recent digital revolution, traditional identity systems have raised several privacy concerns at the same time.
- Centralized Data Storage: Traditional systems store user data in centralized databases. A vast amount of personal information is kept in one place, making it a lucrative target for hackers. A single breach can expose the data of millions of users.
- Over-Collection of Data: Some platforms collect more data than necessary for their services without clear justification. This widespread data collection only amplifies existing privacy concerns.
- Data Sharing and Selling: Many platforms monetize by sharing or selling user data to third parties, often without explicit user consent. Users can receive unsolicited marketing or, worse, their data is used in ways they never intended.
- Lack of User Control: In many traditional systems, once data is shared, we have limited control over its use. We can’t easily retract or manage permissions of our data – a feeling of powerlessness over our own information.
- Cross-Platform Tracking: With the rise of conglomerates owning multiple platforms, there’s an increased ability to track user activity across different services. They can create a creepily exact and detailed profile of yours, sometimes without your knowledge or consent.
- Data Retention: Even after users delete their accounts or stop using a service, their data might still be retained for extended periods. This lingering data can be a potential privacy risk, especially if the platform is compromised or the data is misused.
Digital Identity Done Right With Ready
Web3 introduces a fresh perspective on digital identity. Built on decentralized principles, Web3 digital identity hands control back to individuals. By distributing data across a network rather than storing it in a single location, it inherently addresses many security and privacy issues found in traditional systems.
Ready is our solution for the next phase of the digital identity evolution. It’s a cutting-edge Web3 chat and wallet app that redefines the way users interact online.
How Ready Works
Unlike traditional platforms, Ready doesn’t ask for your email, phone number, or any other personal details during registration.
Your entire identity on Ready is your wallet’s public address—a unique string of characters that represents your account, such as 0x9c647a6223c1f5cd9d68541d63c2a9d0737a5eb3. This address becomes your identity on the platform. It guarantees a distinct presence without revealing any personal information.
Instead of a conventional password, Ready provides a recovery phrase. It’s a sequence of 12 random common words like “toddler cabin embryo company valley turtle shop gold acid fish office arena.”
This phrase is the master key to your account. Anyone with this phrase can access the associated account, so it’s crucial to keep it under wraps and never share it.
While Ready serves as a secure wallet for managing funds, it’s also a chat platform.
Users can easily find others using their addresses and engage in conversations where messages are end-to-end encrypted. Ready also allows users to send cryptocurrency to one another. Whether it’s paying back a friend for lunch or sending a gift using different tokens, transactions are smooth and integrated into the chat experience.
Advantages of Ready’s Approach to Digital Identity
The innovative approach above brings many benefits for Ready users:
- User Autonomy: With no personal information required, users have full control over their data. There’s no risk of personal details being shared, sold, or exposed to potential breaches.
- Transparency and Trust: With Ready, what you see is what you get. There are no hidden data practices or backdoor data sharing. Users can trust that their identity and conversations remain private.
- Decentralized Identity: Your identity being tied to a wallet address means it’s decentralized. This reduces the risks associated with centralized data storage, as there’s no single point of failure.
- Multiple Identities at Your Fingertips: With Ready, users aren’t limited to a single identity. You can create as many addresses as you like. You have full flexibility in how you present yourself online: share identities where you wish and keep others private.
- No Gatekeeping: Unlike traditional platforms where administrators can deny services or ban users, Ready operates on a decentralized principle. Every user is their own authority.
- Private and Secure Communication: While many traditional platforms might not offer end-to-end encryption, Ready ensures that your conversations remain private. Only the involved parties can access the content of the messages.
- Seamless Payments: Making payments to friends or family is a breeze with Ready. Integrated into the chat experience, sending cryptocurrency becomes as easy as sending a text message.
Protect Your Digital Identity With Ready
Existing identity systems too often play fast and loose with your data and privacy. Rather than compromise, you deserve alternatives that put control back in your hands.
Ready delivers exactly that through robust encryption, a decentralized nature, and features that empower people to own their data. Whether you’re looking for private conversations or managing a digital wallet, Ready has you covered.
Download the Ready app today to experience a new world of digital identity.
