WRITTEN ON February 19th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, Identity, What do we want?

For almost a decade we’ve felt that Stefan Brands has a lot to offer UK government. He has generously offered his time and expertise to talk at major conferences, private dinners and to respond to UK consultations (even though he’s Dutch and lives in Canada so if we destroy the foundation of trust in our e-society it’s not really his problem). Now an article in Wired restates what he does, and it sounds more than ever like an idea whose time has come.

Imagine you could prove you were 21 without revealing your date of birth — or anything else about you, for that matter. Or qualify for a loan without disclosing your net worth. Or enjoy the benefits of e-commerce, e-health and e-government without a moment’s fear that you are open to identity theft.

Indeed. Can we also apply for child benefit, deal with the local council, GP, hospital or social services without having our details left in wheelie bins or squats, shared between every branch of government, copied to CDs, memory sticks and iPods and made available to tens of thousands of staff including the normal proportions of nitwits and crooks?

Sound impossible? It is. But it won’t be….

I just cant wait for demand to catch up with supply on this one.