The Future of the Internet: Global Digital ID Report

It’s more than just a digital ID. It’s a whole verification ecosystem that could fracture the internet. Learn about how it works in this report preview.

With digital ID now becoming a reality, many countries are past their pilot programs and releasing their apps to the public.

I’ve been studying these programs in detail to try and answer these questions:

• How exactly are these digital IDs being rolled out, and what can we do about it?
• In which countries will digital IDs be mandatory, and in which will they be optional?
• What will life be like under digital ID?
• How long do we have until it’s rolled out?
• What can we do about it?

I’ll talk about some of the highlights of this report and put out a full video along with the guide when it’s released next week.

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The Ecosystem

The first thing I quickly found out is that the digital ID system is more than just an ID. It’s a whole verification ecosystem, with many parts to it:

• The digital ID app—this is provided as an app on the phone by the country itself.
• eSignatures and documents used for legal contracts.
• Some countries, like the UK, have a plan for SSO—or single sign-on. Think of it like the buttons you see for logging in with Google, Facebook. or other big tech services.
• Guidance for corporations to implement verification and authentication measures.

This plan is much bigger than digital ID itself, and it’s going to change how the internet works.

It’s similar to those annoying captcha and anti-bot detection checks we started experiencing in the past decade, but instead of individual companies choosing to implement checks to combat spam, now any company in the jurisdiction of these laws will have a formal framework they will be required to implement.

We will likely see websites demand that you upload identity verification documents like IDs, utility bills, weird quiz questions about your life, and other wacky things during the first few years of the rollout.

Mandate by Proxy

Will digital ID be forced on you and me? It turns out that in many regions it’s actually forbidden to be mandatory, such as in the EU and Australia.

But this promise means nothing, because governments have adopted ‘Mandate by Proxy.’ They typically demand important industries accept the wallet and provide guidance on how to do this.

Over time, these companies can make the private decision to require the government ID, thus making it mandatory for everyone who needs access to essential services.

You can take a look at Pakistan, a country with one of the oldest digital ID programs. NADRA launched in 2001. The ID is required to do anything—from getting a place to live, buying a plane, train, or bus ticket, or even sending a package.

In 2012, Pakistan reported a 96% adoption around the country. Whether or not you believe their numbers, we can see similar mandates by proxy are extremely effective.

COVID-19 vaccine mandates were another such case. The national level didn’t mandate it, but important industries and companies required it. This gives the government plausible deniability. “Oh, we didn’t force people to use it, but all the companies seemed to require it—and it’s their freedom to do so.”

Big Tech Collusion

The timelines of these efforts correlate with big tech efforts to lock down their ecosystems. Two major changes happened in big tech to lock it down further.

The first is a system to ensure an app can’t run on an unauthorized—or non-big tech—phone. This is Google’s Play Integrity service, launched in 2024. I reported on it in #TBOT Show episode 9.

The second is a system to ensure normal phones can’t run any unauthorized apps and that Google has total control of said apps.

Where it all comes together is that digital ID relies on these services being active. It does two things:

• Strengthens the environment the digital ID is running in so it can’t be spoofed or broken—it’ll be extremely hard to fool it.
• Removes options for normal users if their favorite apps or services start using digital ID.

No wonder they won’t have to ”force” you to use it—the tech companies and apps will do it for you!

The full report will have a breakdown, including solutions we can use.

This is a segment from #TBOT Show Episode 13. Watch the full episode here.

Are you ready for a phone that respects you?

Enjoy private app stores, secure web browsing and communication, download videos to your phone, navigate with open-source maps, and so much more.

🔥 And best of all, there’s zero connections to big tech!