European Union Plans Framework for Secure Digital Identities
The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, announced a proposal yesterday to create a European Digital Identity system that would “be available to all EU citizens, residents and businesses in the EU.” The goal is to enable citizens who are interested “to prove their identity and share electronic documents from their European Digital Identity wallets with the click of a button on their phone.” In addition, these citizens would “be able to access online services with their national digital identification,” that would be recognized throughout European Union’s Member States.
“The European digital identity will enable us to do in any Member State as we do at home without any extra cost and fewer hurdles,” stated Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition and EVP for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age. “Be that renting a flat or opening a bank account outside of our home country. And do this in a way that is secure and transparent. So that we will decide how much information we wish to share about ourselves, with whom and for what purpose.”
... the EU’s proposal emphasizes security and privacy: “The new European Digital Identity wallets will enable all Europeans to access services online without having to use private identification methods or unnecessarily sharing personal data. With this solution they will have full control of the data they share.”
However, the proposed European Digital Identity faces a number of hurdles regarding adoption. For example, there is no requirement as of yet for Member States to develop an interoperable Digital Identity wallet; it would certainly require significant effort to drum up awareness and support from individuals, business and platforms; details will likely be necessary to prove how certified wallets would store and protect user data; and web browsers would be required to honor qualified trust certificates for website authentication.
See the full story here: https://www.etcentric.org/european-union-plans-framework-for-secure-digital-identities/
