Why Would Anybody Want a Digital ID?

The Question People Ask

“Why would I want a digital ID? Sounds like surveillance. Sounds like government tracking. Sounds like something I should avoid.”

Fair. Those concerns are real.

But here’s the thing: you already have dozens of digital identities. You just don’t own any of them.

• Facebook has one
• Google has one
• Amazon has one
• Your bank has one
• Your health insurance has one
• Every app you’ve ever signed up for has one

The question isn’t “should I have a digital identity?”

The question is: Who should control it?

Reason 1: No More “Accounts”

The Current Hell

How many accounts do you have? 50? 200? 500?

Each one requires:

• A username (or email)
• A password (unique, supposedly)
• Security questions (mother’s maiden name, again)
• Two-factor authentication (another app, another code)
• Terms of service (unread, accepted)
• Privacy policy (unread, accepted)

And then:

• Password resets
• Account recovery
• “We’ve updated our terms”
• “Verify your identity”
• “Your account has been compromised”

This is insane. We’ve just normalized it.

With Your Own Digital ID

You don’t create accounts. You just… show up.

System: “Who are you?” You: [Present your identifier] System: “What should I know about you?” You: [Selectively disclose what’s relevant] System: “Great, welcome.”

No password. No account creation. No recovery process.

The system doesn’t store your identity — you present it. They verify it. Done.

AI Helps You Decide

“What should I share with this service?”

Your AI agent (with delegated authority from you) can help:

• “This service needs your email for notifications — that seems reasonable.”
• “This service is asking for your location history — that’s unusual for a recipe app.”
• “This service has a good reputation for data handling.”
• “This service has been involved in three data breaches.”

You stay in control. AI helps you navigate.

Reason 2: You Make the Money, Not Them

Why Do Facebook and Google Want Your Digital Identity?

To make money from you.

Your identity — your preferences, your connections, your behavior, your attention — is worth thousands of dollars per year. To advertisers. To data brokers. To anyone who wants to influence you.

Facebook and Google build profiles on you because those profiles are valuable. They sell access to you. They profit from knowing you.

You get “free” services. They get your economic value.

When You Own Your Identity

The equation flips.

Your data. Your profile. Your attention. Your economic value.

• Want to see ads? Get paid for it.
• Want to share your preferences? Get compensated.
• Want to participate in market research? Name your price.
• Want to remain private? That’s free.

The platforms had it backwards. Your identity isn’t their asset. It’s yours.

The Math

Average revenue per user (ARPU) for big platforms:

• Facebook: ~$40/year (US users: ~$200/year)
• Google: ~$300/year
• Combined attention economy: thousands per person per year

That value exists because you exist. When you own your identity, you capture that value — or you opt out entirely. Your choice.

Reason 3: You Are an Internet Entity

The Current Model

You exist on platforms.

• You’re @username on Twitter
• You’re a profile on LinkedIn
• You’re a channel on YouTube
• You’re a page on Facebook

If the platform changes, you adapt. If the platform dies, you lose everything. Your followers, your content, your history — all trapped in someone else’s system.

You don’t exist on the internet. You exist on platforms that exist on the internet.

The New Model

You are an internet entity. Like YouTube. Like the Red Cross. Like any organization with its own presence.

People follow YOU. Not “you on a platform.”

Your identifier is yours:

• Your content lives where you put it
• Your followers subscribe to you directly
• Your reputation travels with you
• No platform can take it away

How? Personal Content Publishing

Imagine:

• Your own publishing endpoint (like a website, but identity-native)
• Subscribers who follow your identifier, not a platform handle
• Content that you sign, that verifiably came from you
• Monetization that goes to you, not through a platform’s cut

Platforms become optional distribution channels, not owners of your presence.

You’re not a user. You’re a publisher. You’re an entity. You’re sovereign.

Reason 4: Participate in Any Marketplace

Currently: Siloed Participation

Each marketplace is its own world:

• eBay reputation doesn’t transfer to Etsy
• Uber rating doesn’t help you on Lyft
• LinkedIn endorsements don’t matter on Upwork
• Your neighborhood reputation doesn’t exist digitally at all

You rebuild from zero, everywhere, every time.

With Portable Identity: Universal Participation

Your identity travels. Your reputation follows.

Community Service Marketplace:

• Your neighborhood
• Your city
• Your state
• Regional networks
• National mutual aid

Same identity. Reputation compounds. Help given anywhere counts everywhere.

Professional Marketplaces:

• Freelance work
• Consulting
• Gig economy
• Professional services

Your track record is yours. Verified. Portable.

Commerce Marketplaces:

• Buy and sell
• Trade and barter
• Local exchange
• Global commerce

Trust once established, trusted everywhere.

The Network Effect Works for You

Every interaction builds your reputation. Every marketplace you join benefits from your history. Every new connection strengthens your position.

The network effect stops working for platforms and starts working for you.

Reason 5: Credentials That Matter

The Paper Problem

Your credentials exist as:

• Paper certificates
• PDFs in email
• Entries in someone else’s database
• “Trust me, I have a degree”

Verification is slow, expensive, or impossible. Fraud is easy. Credentials expire without anyone knowing.

With Digital Identity: Verifiable Credentials

Your credentials are:

• Issued to your identifier
• Cryptographically signed by the issuer
• Instantly verifiable by anyone
• Revocable when they should be
• Yours to share selectively

Examples:

• Professional licenses (instantly verifiable)
• Educational degrees (prove it in seconds)
• Background checks (share once, valid everywhere)
• Certifications (always current)
• Memberships (automatically updated)

No more “send us your transcripts.” No more notarized copies. No more “we’ll verify and get back to you in 3-5 business days.”

Reason 6: Cross-Border, Cross-System Portability

The Current Trap

Move to a new country? Start over.

• New bank account (prove your identity again)
• New credit history (zero)
• New professional credentials (re-verify everything)
• New reputation (who are you again?)

Switch industries? Start over. Change careers? Start over. New community? Start over.

With Portable Identity

Your identity is not tied to:

• A country
• A platform
• An industry
• A community

It’s tied to you. Verified history travels. Credentials translate. Reputation ports.

Not “starting over.” Building on what you’ve already built.

Reason 7: Survive Platform Death

What Happens When Platforms Die?

• Vine died. Creators lost their audiences.
• MySpace faded. Years of content vanished.
• Google kills products constantly. Your data goes with them.
• Any platform can change terms, ban you, or disappear.

Your digital life is hostage to platforms’ business decisions.

With Your Own Identity

Platforms are services you use, not homes you live in.

• Platform dies? Your identity persists.
• Platform bans you? Your audience follows you elsewhere.
• Platform changes terms? You leave without losing everything.

You’re not trapped. You’re sovereign.

Reason 8: AI Agents That Actually Work for You

The AI Opportunity

AI agents are coming. They’ll:

• Book appointments
• Handle transactions
• Negotiate on your behalf
• Manage your digital life

But whose AI? Working for whom?

With Your Own Identity

Your AI agent has your delegated authority:

• Acts on your behalf (verifiably)
• Within scopes you define
• Revocable at any time
• Accountable to you

Not a platform’s AI optimizing for their interests. Your AI, working for you, with cryptographic proof of its authority and limits.

Reason 9: Privacy That Actually Works

The Current “Privacy”

“Privacy settings” mean:

• They still collect everything
• They just don’t show it publicly
• They still sell it
• They still use it

Privacy policies are permission slips for surveillance.

With Selective Disclosure

You reveal only what’s needed:

• Prove you’re over 21 without revealing your birthdate
• Prove you live in a city without revealing your address
• Prove you have a credential without revealing who issued it
• Prove you’re a real person without revealing who you are

Privacy isn’t a setting. It’s the architecture.

Reason 10: Legacy and Continuity

What Happens to Your Digital Life When You Die?

Currently:

• Accounts locked forever
• Content inaccessible
• Subscriptions continue charging
• Digital assets lost
• No clean handoff

With Owned Identity

Your digital identity can:

• Designate successors
• Transfer to heirs
• Maintain continuity for dependents
• Archive meaningfully
• End gracefully

Your digital life is your estate. You decide what happens to it.

The Real Question

The question isn’t “why would I want a digital ID?”

The question is “why am I letting everyone else profit from the digital ID they’ve already built on me?”

You have a digital identity. Many of them. Built by others. Owned by others. Monetized by others.

The choice is whether to take it back.

Summary

Without Your Own ID	With Your Own ID
Hundreds of accounts	One identity, many contexts
Platforms profit from you	You capture your own value
Exist on platforms	Exist as an internet entity
Reputation trapped in silos	Reputation travels everywhere
Credentials hard to verify	Instant verification
Start over constantly	Build continuously
Hostage to platforms	Sovereign
AI works for platforms	AI works for you
Privacy is a setting	Privacy is architecture
Digital death is chaos	Digital legacy is planned

Your identity. Your data. Your value. Your choice.

TODO: Add practical getting-started guide and technical overview