Costs of a Crappy Legal Identity
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Costs of a Crappy Legal Identity

Guy Huntington Guy Huntington

Guy Huntington

Trailblazing Human and Entity Identity & Learning Visionary - Created a new legal identity architecture for humans/ AI systems/bots and leveraged this to create a new learning architecture

Published Jun 20, 2020
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December 27, 2023 update - I strongly suggest readers skim “How Do I Trust Entities?   Different Levels of Identity & Credential Assurance - A Thought Paper”.


In 1052 in India, a tale began of a king believing what criminals told him, i.e. they were weaving an invisible garment. He walked around his court naked, with the court pretending he was wearing clothes, until he walked outside, when commoners told him he was naked. He realized he'd been swindled.

The point of this post is we're rapidly approaching a similar tale regarding legal identity. The costs of people, government and industry being swindled are reaching such staggering proportions, it's time to realize the old legal identity clothes we think we're wearing to protect us, are now no longer there.

Existing Costs:

  1. Ad Fraud - Estimated global annual cost $42 billion.
  2. Synthetic Identity Theft - Estimated annual cost (US) $6 billion. Included in this is the annual theft in the US of approximately 1 million children's identity fraud.
  3. Identity Theft - Estimated annual cost (US) $16.9 billion.
  4. Medical Identity Theft - This report for 2019 estimates US medical identity theft of "382 breaches, costing over $2.45 billion." In the first half of 2019, 31.6 million healthcare records were breached.

Emerging New Problems:

  1. Virtual Selves and Digital Twins legal identities - as these emerge, there is no legal, scalable solution able to legally register the digital identities, and tie them to the legal physical identity.
  2. AI Systems - As this paper documents, these systems emerge, they're now able to legally run a company, write like us, patents are being applied on their behalf, running conversations with 650 million people with the average person taking 10 minutes to figure out they're talking to a bit, etc. etc. How is their legal identity going to be determined?
  3. Misinformation - How do we determine who's a human and who's a bot? This paper outlines an example of this in political discourse.
  4. Protecting children in the new emerging AI/AR/VR world - Today, there isn't a legal way to anonymously prove the person is above or below age of consent, which is tied to their legal CRVS (civil registration vital statistics) birth record.
  5. Death & Digital Identities - Today, there isn't a legal global solution addressing what happens when we die to our digital virtual selves, etc.

Time To Realize Our Legal Identity Systems No Longer Work

Just like the swindlers in 1052 in India, today's criminals are having a field day raking in money. The numbers above are astounding. Further, if the criminals are smart, they operate out of jurisdictions where they can't be easily prosecuted. Example - the paltry 5% US success rate in prosecuting cyber-crime.

So, what's the answer to all of this?

Create a New Legal Identity Framework

Skim this paper "Rethinking Human Legal Identity". It has a picture and a description of the new architecture. At the 100,000 foot level, here's a summary:

  • When you're born, your legal identity information plus your forensic biometrics are written to not only a new age CRVS (Civil Registration Vital Statistics) system, BUT ALSO TO YOUR SOLICT (Source of Legal Identity & Credential Truth)
  • SOLICT is a database you control. It contains your legal identity information, credentials (e.g., Covid vaccination, education credentials etc.), as well as all consents given from you for use of your legal identity and credentials from cradle to grave
  • LSSI (Legal Self-Sovereign Identity) devices which are ways in which you prove your legal identity. These include physical legal ID card, digital legal application, biometrically tied wristband containing your legal identity information, and a chip implanted into you containing your legal identity
  • Smart digital identities of you. Depending on risk, you'll be required to legally register smart digital identities like digital twins, virtual selves, et al with the CRVS. These will be registered against your legal physical identity
  • PIAM (Personal Identity Access Management) which is an AI leverage identity assistant. You can preconfigure it to release, with your consent, identity information to others. For each one, the PIAM writes the consent agreement to your SOLICT
  • Rethought notaries - they're able to prove to a high degree of assurance it's really you
  • New, independent, global non-profit - it's job is to set legal identity standards, as well as do 24x7x365 threat analysis against the legal identity framework e.g., governance, business processes, tech and end users

Biometrics Are Not Secrets and Can Be Easily Stolen

Biometrics are not secrets. Just ask the German defense minister in 2014, who had her fingerprints obtained at a distance, using a high resolution camera.  Today, if your biometrics are obtained by criminals, you're effectively screwed because you can't revoke and re-issue them.

That's why, on page 49 of this cost centre paper, it calls out for urgent research to confirm the 2015 paper of Rud Bolle. His paper suggested anonymizing biometrics such that they become revocable and re-issuable. If this is possible, the architecture heavily leverages this, significantly reducing risk of criminals stealing your biometrics. Look at the example of page 24 of the paper.

Benefits of a Rethought Legal Identity

  • Physical or digital legal identity, which the government issues, but you control i.e. a legal self sovereign identity (LSSI), which
  • Also contains your forensic biometrics (e.g. fingerprints and iris), which you control, able to prove to the highest level of identity assurance who you are, which
  • Enables you to determine the degree of information you want to release about yourself
  • I’m a human acting anonymously, above or below age of consent, gender, name, country, state/province, city/town, address, etc., which
  • Contains information about children you have or are guardian for or,
  • People you’re legally acting on behalf of, e.g. children, power of attorney, etc. or
  • Covid vaccinations, school degrees, transcripts, etc., that
  • Also contains information you’re authoritative for like your will, etc.
  • All of which you control in deciding who to release the information to
  • Each time when you do decide to release the information, the consent for the identity and data you’ve agreed to release, is written to your SOLICT
  • Now, you have a legal record, from your birth on, to all the consents granted to release your legal identity and data to which can be used by you, at a later date, to request removal from the datastores using acts like EU GDPR Article 17 (‘right to be forgotten’)
  • If your LSSI device is compromised, you’d simply request cancellation of it, and a new one issued
  • Your master legal identity data is written from birth, to to your own personal database which you control i.e., your SOLICT
  • Which is able to prove you are you by securely obtaining your biometrics, with your consent, and can legally verify you are you, at any place on the planet, to the highest level of identity assurance
  • When a civil registration event occurs to you, like a name/gender change, marriage, divorce, birth of children, etc., the local CRVS authority verifies, with your consent, your identity, via your biometrics, and updates the master SOLICT, which in turn updates your LSSI devices
  • With the ability to only write to your SOLICT but never be able to delete it
  • You can use your LSSI devices to anonymously prove Covid vaccinations, digitally sign documents using your legal identity, etc.
  • All with a global independent body administering the standards, API interfaces, as well as doing continuous testing of the governance, business processes and technological interfaces, to ensure your legal identity remains secure
  • It enables business and governments to streamline their legal identity processes, significantly reducing identity fraud
  • All without the government telling you when to use your legal identity, or how to use it

Results of a New Legal Identity Framework

Rethought Legal Identity's Time Has Come

When I talk to people about the above, they agree there's a big problem, but then point to the historical glacial pace of political legal change, telling me there's no way it will happen anytime soon. I beg to differ. Why?

This diagram sums is it all up. The pace of technological change is now logarithmic, i.e. tomorrow is definitely going to be a lot different than today. Result - increasing pressure on politicians and business to deal with the fact that AI systems/bots are taking control of our political discourse, and being used to fraud people, business and governments in incredible numbers.

The challenge is not only is the problem not going to go away, but it will grow. Just like the king in 1052, it's time to wake up, and realize we're standing increasingly naked in protecting our legal identities.

About Guy Huntington

I'm an identity trailblazing problem solver. My past clients include Boeing, Capital One and the Government of Alberta's Digital Citizen Identity & Authentication project. Many of my past projects were leading edge at the time in the identity/security space. I've spent the last eight years working my way through creating a new legal identity architecture and leveraging this to then rethink learning.

I've also done a lot in education as a volunteer over my lifetime. This included chairing my school district's technology committee in the 90's - which resulted in wiring most of the schools with optic fiber, behind building a technology leveraged school, and past president of Skills Canada BC and Skills Canada.

I do short term consulting for Boards, C-suites and Governments, assisting them in readying themselves for the arrival of AI systems, bots and AI leveraged, smart digital identities of humans.

I've written LOTS about the change coming. Skim the over 100 LinkedIn articles I've written, or my webpage with lots of papers.

Quotes I REALLY LIKE!!!!!!:

  • We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” – Albert Einstein
  • “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” – Robin Sharma
  • “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future” – John F. Kennedy

Reference Links:

An Identity Day in The Life:

My Message To Government & Industry Leaders:

National Security:

Rethinking Legal Identity, Credentials & Learning:

Learning Vision:

Creativity:

AI Agents:

Architecture:

AI/Human Legal Identity/Learning Cost References

AI Leveraged, Smart Digital Identities of Humans:

CISO's:

Companies, C-Suites and Boards:

Recommended by LinkedIn

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Legal Identity & TODA:

Enterprise Articles:

Rethinking Enterprise Architecture In The Age of AI:

LLC's & AI:

Challenges With AI:

New Security Model:

DAO:

Kids:

Sex:

Schools:

Biometrics:

Legal Identity:

Identity, Death, Laws & Processes:

Open Source:

Notaries:

Climate Change, Migration & Legal Identity:

"Human Migration, Physical and Digital Legal Identity - A Thought Paper”

Fraud/Crime:

Behavioral Marketing:

AI Systems and Bots:

Contract Law:

Insurance:

Health:

AI/AR/VR Metaverse Type Environments:

SOLICT:

EMP/HEMP Data Centre Protection:

Climate:

A 100,000-Foot Level Summary Of Legal Human Identity

  • Each person when they’re born has their legal identity data plus their forensic biometrics (fingerprints, and later when they can keep their eyes open – their iris) entered into a new age CRVS system (Civil Registration Vital Statistics - birth, name/gender change, marriage/divorce and death registry) with data standards
  • The CRVS writes to an external database, per single person, the identity data plus their forensic biometrics called a SOLICT “Source of Legal Identity & Credential Truth). The person now controls this
  • As well, the CRVS also writes to the SOLICT legal identity relationships e.g. child/parent, cryptographically linking the SOLICTs. So Jane Doe and her son John will have cryptographic digitally signed links showing their parent/child. The same methodology can be used for power of attorney/person, executor of estate/deceased, etc.
  • The SOLICT in turn then pushes out the information to four different types of LSSI Devices “Legal Self-Sovereign Identity”; physical ID card, digital legal identity app, biometrically tied physical wristband containing identity information or a chip inserted into each person
  • The person is now able, with their consent, to release legal identity information about themselves. This ranges from being able to legally, anonymously prove they’re a human (and not a bot), above or below age of consent, Covid vaccinated, etc. It also means they can, at their discretion, release portions of their identity like gender, first name, legal name, address, etc.
  • NOTE: All consents granted by the person are stored in their SOLICT
  • Consent management for each person will be managed by their PIAM “Personal Identity Access Management) system. This is AI leveraged, allowing the person, at their discretion, to automatically create consent legal agreements on the fly
  • It works both locally and globally, physically and digitally anywhere on the planet
  • AI systems/bots are also registered, where risk requires it, in the new age CRVS system
  • Governance and continual threat assessment, is done by a new, global, independent, non-profit funded by a very small charge per CRVS event to a jurisdiction to a maximum yearly amount.

A 100,000-Foot Level Summary Of The Learning Vision:

  • When the learner is a toddler, with their parents’ consent, they’ll be assessed by a physical bot for their learning abilities. This will include sight, sound, hearing and smell, as well as hand-eye coordination, how they work or don’t work with others, learning abilities, all leveraging biometric and behavioral data
  • All consents given on behalf of the learner or, later in the learner’s life by the learner themselves, are stored in the learner’s SOLICT “Source of Legal Identity & Credential Truth”
  • This is fed into a DLT “Digital Learning Twin”, which is created and legally bound to the learner
  • The DLT the produces its first IEP “Individualized Education Plan”, for the learner
  • The parents take home with them a learning assistant bot to assist the learner, each day, in learning. The bot updates the DLT, which in turn continually refines the learner’s IEP
  • All learning data from the learner is stored in their LDV “Learner Data Vault”
  • When the learner’s first day of school comes, the parents prove the learner and their identities and legal relationship with the learner, via their LSSI devices (Legal Self-Sovereign Identity)
  • With their consent, they approve how the learner’s identity information will be used not only within the school, but also in AI/AR/VR learning environments
  • As well, the parents give their consent for the learner’s DLT, IEP and learning assistant bot to be used, via their PIAM (Personal Identity Access Management) and the learner’s PIAM
  • The schools LMS “Learning Management System” instantly takes the legal consent agreements, plus the learner’s identity and learning information, and integrates this with the school’s learning systems
  • From the first day, each learner is delivered a customized learning program, continually updated by both human and AI system/bot learning specialists, as well as sensors, learning assessments, etc.
  • All learner data collected in the school, is stored in the learner’s LDV
  • If the learner enters any AI/AR/VR type learning environment, consent agreements are created instantly on the fly with the learner, school, school districts, learning specialists, etc. 
  • These specify how the learner will be identified, learning data use, storage, deletion, etc.
  • When the learner acquires learning credentials, these are digitally signed by the authoritative learning authority, and written to the learner’s SOLICT.
  • The SOLICT in turn pushes these out to the learner’s LSSI devices
  • The learner is now in control of their learning credentials
  • When the learner graduates, they’ll be able, with their consent, to offer use of their DLT, IEP and LDV to employers, post-secondary, etc. This significantly reduces time and costs to train or help the learner learn
  • The learner continually leverages their DLT/IEP/LDV until their die i.e., it’s a lifelong learning system
  • IT’S TRANSFORMATIONAL OVER TIME, NOT OVERNIGHT


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