Microsoft Debuts Project to Adopt Blockchain for Digital IDs
Last year, Microsoft described the idea of a “self-sovereign digital identity,” and has now introduced a project that would shift login credentials to blockchain. With this model, users — not Microsoft — would be responsible for their own digital identities and the portable credentials would, in principle, allow access to numerous applications. Advocates of blockchain champion the concept as more private, preventing anyone from following the user’s activity on the Internet and limiting the opportunity for hacks.
Wired reports that Microsoft’s idea could “potentially scale to billions of users.” The company is currently “developing open source protocols and standards with the World Wide Web Consortium and the Decentralized Identity Foundation, whose members include Aetna, IBM, and Mastercard.” Notably missing from that team is Facebook, which is also “exploring blockchain technology.”
To overcome this obstacle, Microsoft is planning to use a solution it dubs ION, which is a “layer-two” solution “that stores and accesses your data away from the blockchain, using InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).” The company says ION can “potentially scale to allow tens of thousands of operations per second,” compared to 10 or less with Bitcoin.
“For a digital ID to work everywhere online, it needs buy-in from all the places that currently covet your login,” it says. “Ideally, it would work across different blockchains, so competing ID systems don’t arise.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/microsoft-debuts-project-to-adopt-blockchain-for-digital-ids/