Something for the weekend - why we should build on authentication rather than ID. Pain points from the UK, learnings from Estonia

I have never once heard anyone complain about the one-tap payment system that simplifies access to all of London's public transport infrastructure with a single tap. But once a new cycle of the BritCard debates makes the rounds, the howls of Big Brother begin making the news cycle. Last time, it erupted in the fourth-largest petition in British parliamentary history. We can expect a smaller outrage as the UK Public Accounts Committee opens a new inquiry into the UK government's digital ID scheme. The irony is that both the one-tap tube scheme and national ID are pointing towards the same underlying goal, but with wildly different outcomes.

This realization came to me recently when I sat down with Arne Ansper, one of the original architects of the X-Road technical infrastructure underpinning Estonia's highly successful experiment in integration, authentication, authorization and identification. That's essentially identity and access ...