Utah will now be issuing a “digitial I.D.” to be used by it’s citizens. This “State Endorsed Digital Identity” or SEDI was pushed by summits and other states are being actively encouraged to join in. And what is this SEDI in effect?
“A unique global “decentralized” blockchain digital ID that you’ll eventually use to log into all your accounts, services, and government portals.
“The state ‘endorses’ it with a cryptographically signed credential, but you hold it in a digital wallet.
“*Side note: Salt Lake based digital identity company, Anonyome Labs, is helping Utah roll out this digital ID program. JD Mumford, former IBM exec, is the current CEO and Todd Davis, founder of LifeLock (bought out by Symantec in 2017), and Greg Clark, former Symantec CEO, sit on the board.
“No more passwords. Like the One Ring—it’s One ID to rule them all.”
It’s being touted as being “voluntary” (for now), but with the digital infrastructure in place, making it mandatory is trivial. The bill also imposes requirements on “verifiers” and “relying parties”… so basically anyone and everyone that offers any digital or online service. Oh, there are promised of the state not tracking the use of digital IDs and of people still being allowed to use physical IDs, but again, with this infrastructure in place, all that could easily change. They are even creating an Ombusdman to oversee this.
The bill even tries to sell this as providing legal rights of the person with a “digital identity bill of rights”. It’s even being advertised as “protecting liberty in the digital age” with language like “digital export of freedom,” “anchoring technology in liberty and constitutional order,” & “identity is inherently decentralized and innate to the individual.”
And the kicker? You’ll have to pay for it, with fees established for “issuing, renewing, or replacing a state-endorsed digital identity”. That won’t stop them from accepting private money donations from anyone to implement this law.
Soon enough, you’ll have to present your digital “papers”.
