Personal Identity Management Research Articles

Demographic Bias in Biometrics: A Survey on an Emerging Challenge

Systems incorporating biometric technologies have become ubiquitous in personal, commercial, and governmental identity management applications. Both cooperative (e.g. access control) and non-cooperative (e.g. surveillance and forensics) systems have benefited from biometrics. Such systems rely on the uniqueness of certain biological or behavioural characteristics of human beings, which enable for individuals to be reliably recognised using automated algorithms. Recently, however, there has been a wave of public and academic concerns regarding the existence of systemic bias in automated decision systems (including biometrics). Most prominently, face recognition algorithms have often been labelled as "racist" or "biased" by the media, non-governmental organisations, and researchers alike. The main contributions of this article are: (1) an overview of the topic of algorithmic bias in the context of biometrics, (2) a comprehensive survey of the existing literature on biometric bias estimation and mitigation, (3) a discussion of the pertinent technical and social matters, and (4) an outline of the remaining challenges and future work items, both from technological and social points of view.

The Identity Management Value Model: A Design Science Approach to Assess Value Gaps on Social Media

ABSTRACTThreats to the individual identity on social media are real and problematic. Yet, there is a paucity of research on online identity management. We posit that identity management on social media requires a value perspective to determine gaps between what social media users want from online identity management and what social media sites offer through their current security and privacy controls. Following the design science research paradigm, we present an Identity Management Value Model (IMVM). Based on multiple‐objectives decision analysis technique, the value model explicates a hierarchy of fundamental identity management objectives and quantifies the achievement of objectives on a social media site. The emergent value scores and value gaps provide an understanding of how well a social media site manages users online identity. We demonstrate the application of the value model for Facebook and assess a set of measures to reduce the value gaps on Facebook. We conducted sensitivity analysis followed by deterministic analysis to evaluate the value model. The evaluation results indicate that the modeling outcome is robust to a range of individual values and preferences. By focusing on individual values, this study extends the research on values in the context of identity management on social media. Social media companies might find the model useful for instituting identity management measures. Individual users could use the model for strategizing about personal identity management. Our study also demonstrates the usefulness of a retrospective design approach, accounting for user values in a principled and comprehensive manner.

RFID-based Electronic Identity Security Cloud Platform in Cyberspace

With the moving development of networks, especially Internet of Things, electronic identity administration in cyberspace is becoming more and more important. And personal identity management in cyberspace associated with individuals in reality has been one significant and urgent task for the further development of information construction in China. So this paper presents a RFID-based electronic identity security cloud platform in cyberspace to implement an efficient security management of cyber personal identity, and designs and realizes a strong and pervasive security cloud service platform, and discusses key technology including security authentication mechanism for the electronic identity card, super high frequency RFID with eID cards, multilevel privacy protection mechanism, security cloud service, security isolation and single-oriented transmission, and boundary security gateway protection, and it can well apply to personal identity management with virtual roles of citizens in cyberspace such as E-Government and E-Business, and the electronic identity security platform has been primary implemented and achieved good effects in actual applications.

Personal identity management as a socio-technical network

This paper describes a framework which has proven useful in unpacking the socio-technical nature of personal identity management and in understanding how the introduction of the national identity card in the UK has been ‘configured’ among diverse agencies. The current paper provides an update to developments in the area and evaluates the developing discourse emerging from government circles. The issue is assuming a much larger role within e-government rollout generally and is seen as critical to effective service transformation. This means that the issue is being expanded outside of debate about the introduction of an identity card and is involving a greater range of stakeholders. We use this particular case to help understand a number of thematic and emergent elements surrounding personal identity management which we expect will frame attempts at organisational resolution in this area in the future.

Personal identity management and electronic government

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to unpack some of the socio‐technical relationships inherent in contemporary notions of personal identity management. For this purpose it considers the issue of personal identity management in terms of a framework, which distinguishes between the related processes of authentication, identification and enrolment.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual model described in this paper is reflected against an important recent case in which issues of personal identity management are being enacted: the introduction of a UK national identity card. Both this issue and case are particularly examined in the light of the growth of e‐Government in the UK.FindingsThe paper relates issues associated with the technical infrastructure of e‐Government with some of the costs and benefits associated with the social infrastructure of e‐Government. This device offers a useful framing for a whole range of issues surrounding individual‐organisation interaction in the Information Society that rely on elements of personal identity management.Research limitations/implicationsIn the paper the issue of personal identity management is under‐represented in the Information Systems and Information Management literature. The conceptual approach adopted in the paper is used to identify areas of further research in terms of issues relevant to the technical infrastructure of e‐Government.Practical implicationsThe paper identifies a number of personal identity management issues embedded in the technical infrastructure required for effective e‐Government.Originality/valueThis paper raises the importance of personal identity management to the success of the e‐Government agenda. It also links classic information management issues to the issue of personal identity management and identifies the challenges for e‐Government within this.

Personal identity management in the information polity: The case of the UK national identity card

In the Information Society an individual may take on an identity for each electronic service with which he or she engages. As a consequence, an individual may accumulate a vast array of personal identifiers for such 'services' and is also likely to accrue a range of physical representations of such multiple identification: credit card, debit card, driving licence, passport, library card, parking permit etc. Hence, multiple identity management is a significant issue for individuals and organisations. In this paper we unpack this issue in terms of a semiotic framework consisting of three interrelated processes - authentication, identification and enrolment. These processes serve to locate the three elements of the person, identifiers and identity that help define the socio-technical network which comprises the issue of personal identity in the Information Age. We test the explanatory utility of this framework against a contemporary and prominent case from the UK - an attempt by the government to introduce a national identity card. Such an identity token offers numerous potential benefits for individuals and organisations but raises major challenges to data protection, data privacy and public trust in the information governance of the UK.

Personal identity management in the information polity: The case of the UK national identity card

In the Information Society an individual may take on an identity for each electronic service with which he or she engages. As a consequence, an individual may accumulate a vast array of personal id...

Privacy policy and PETs

‘Privacy’is an ambiguous notion, encompassing personal autonomy, democratic participation, identity management, and social coordination. Each of these privacy ideals reflect different sets of social concerns. Laws operationalize privacy in terms of ‘personally identifiable information’. Technologies reify that definition. This has implications for the constitution of identity and social life. It may empower data holders to rationalize populations and create selfserving social categories, while permitting individuals to negotiate these categories outside of panoptic vision. It may facilitate public awareness of, and resistance to, these created social categories. A more expansive understanding of identification and privacy should inform policy discourse.

The process of disclosing positive HIV status: Findings from qualitative research

Self-disclosure of HIV positive status is thought to have the potential to enhance trust and social acceptance in social relationships and to reduce the onwards transmission risks of HIV in sexual relationships where at least one partner is HIVpositive. As part of a wider qualitative study investigating sexual safety in the context of HIV infection, we undertook 73 qualitative in-depth interviews with HIVpositive individuals and the sexual partners of HIVpositive individuals. All HIV positive subjects had some drug use experience but few associations were found between drug use and disclosure of HIVstatus. Disclosure was found to involve processes of 'target' selection on the basis of relationship quality and target opinions. Targets were de-selected to protect the status quo of fixed social relationships. Timing of disclosure was carefully planned to minimize rejection and maximize fairness to others. Full disclosure was rehearsed and usually followed a series of incremental 'clues' which we found could be subject to misinterpretation. Findings illustrate that disclosure could threaten or support the control of personal identity and relationship management, and that sexual safety was not necessarily assured by disclosure. Factors found to influence the disclosure process included incomplete communications, negative ideas about condoms, and the prioritization of relationship quality where disruption to relationships was related to safer sex. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of findings for public health interventions.