Sovereignty, privacy, and ethics in blockchain-based identity management systems

Georgy Ishmaev

doi:10.1007/s10676-020-09563-x

Abstract

Self-sovereign identity (SSI) solutions implemented on the basis of blockchain technology are seen as alternatives to existing digital identification systems, or even as a foundation of standards for the new global infrastructures for identity management systems. It is argued that ‘self-sovereignty' in this context can be understood as the concept of individual control over identity relevant private data, capacity to choose where such data is stored, and the ability to provide it to those who need to validate it. It is also argued that while it might be appealing to operationalise the concept of ‘self-sovereignty’ in a narrow technical sense, depreciation of moral semantics obscures key challenges and long-term repercussions. Closer attention to the normative substance of the ‘sovereignty’ concept helps to highlight a range of ethical issues pertaining to the changing nature of human identity in the context of ubiquitous private data collection.

Highlights

Any technical solution dealing with the issues of human identity management and private data is intertwined with ethical challenges
From that distinction it can be observed that the term SelfSovereign Identity (SSI) itself has two distinct meanings, in the normative sense of the ‘Self-sovereignty’ and in the descriptive sense referring to specific classes of identity management solutions utilising blockchain-based Decentralised Public Key Infrastructure (DPKI)
This paper has provided an outline for the moral grounding of claims on the desirability of SSI solutions

Summary

Introduction

Any technical solution dealing with the issues of human identity management and private data is intertwined with ethical challenges. Proponents of these solutions argue that SSI systems can bring enhanced privacy, data security and full controls over their digital identities to individuals (Tobin and Reed 2016; Allen 2017; Ma et al 2018; Wagner et al 2018) These claims are loaded with ethical assumptions seemingly targeting the very core set of concerns regarding privacy and identity in the emerging socio-technical structures of contemporary society. A quote attributed to Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, explaining some motivations behind the project, is worth citing here: “we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years.”1 This statement, which may seem like a colourful metaphor at a first glance, refers to the set of moral concerns regarding issues of autonomy, self-determination and individual rights in the context of changing social structures that are more and more defined by the new technologies. The paper concludes with arguments on the appreciation of ethical risks of identity nominalisation in SSI systems

New domains of sovereignty

Technical components of SSI systems

Moral foundations of sovereign rights

Conclusion