One of the problems with such voluntary systems is that they tend to become effectively involuntary. For example, EFTPOS (or whatever you call them there) cards are voluntary, but it's harder and harder to live without them. Ditto driver's licenses and passports, to some extent.
I wouldn't mind a system that works something like this, however:
You're given a card/chip/whatever that has multiple identities. You can generate as many as you want, and choose which one to identify yourself with. The card gives you the ability to confirm you own identity x, but without your consent there's no way to link two of your identities.
For validation that requires 'you are person x' rather than just 'you are the same person that signed up for this', identities can be signed by a trusted third party and associated with data such as photographs. |
