Identity verification processes involving submission of our Personal ID poses risk to our Data Privacy
Nowadays, I feel uncomfortable providing my personal information to entities and it’s become a norm that to avail basic social and financial services, everyone is required to provide their identity documents - proof of identity, proof of residence etc.
Even in crypto, Centralised Exchanges and regulated Peer to Peer platforms permit you to use their platform only when you provide them your complete personal details, completing Know your Customer (KYC) procedures.
The problem today is we know we can’t trust entities with our data, which is freely available to Governments and sold to third parties or can be hacked by cyber criminals.
In today’s age, Government’s hostility to people is well known, they are targeted unfairly for their criticisms of the Government, and some Governments target crypto investors with their absolutely cruel crypto regulations, so many find it safer to use platforms which don’t collect our personal information.
A private Identity solution where users have control over their data not the Entities
So, in an age of Web3 where users need to have control over their data rather than entities, a Private identity solution is the need of the hour. Polygon ID is such an identity solution.
Polygon ID, is a self sovereign, privacy focused digital on-chain identity solution developed using Zero knowledge proof technology, which makes it possible to provide verified Digital IDs that are made without collecting a user's personal information.
Let’s delve into how Polygon ID solution works guaranteeing user’s control on their Data
The user will have to prove specific aspects about himself that the entity requires to verify. The user then submits a claim in the form of a zkSNARK Proof that proves his identity and there is no need to submit personal documents if it can be avoided here. This zkSNARK Proof is the id that’s submitted to entities.
For ex, if the entity wants to verify if a user is over 18 years of age, and is not a United States resident as is required by most Dexs today, than a claim with a statement from the issuer of the user’s ID card(say driving licence) can just state those facts that the user is above 18 years of age and is not a resident of the United States without revealing the user’s Date of Birth or country of residence, home address, phone number and all those sensitive details.
Therefore with Polygon ID, a user does not need to submit all his/her ID documents to an entity, and no other details of the users need be disclosed than what is absolutely essential to be disclosed to the entity.
The verified data of the user will be stored as hashed data, it will contain no personal details about the user.
In the example provided above, the ZK proof submitted is a good proof, where the entity need not trust anyone expect trust that the issuer of the ID did their job of verifying the user’s details correctly.
Well, this is what I understand about Polygon ID reading the article here, which I felt rather does not give a clear cut picture but I am sure this is the drift.
Polygon ID x Polygon DAO Integration Launches to Create New ZK-based Governance Frameworks
Polygon ID kind of ID solutions will give users Data Privacy Protection, we lack
Imagine, that we have this kind of Digital ID like Polygon ID which will be enough for us to login and trade in a CEX as I don’t need to do KYC. Perhaps,our bank can issue a claim in a zkSNARK Proof that this account holder is genuine without giving off my bank account details, my home address etc, just a thought… I will find it valuable.
The onus here is that the user has control of their personal information and can choose what to reveal. Data Privacy is our right, which unfortunately many countries don’t respect.
Our Data that is collected by entities are generally stored in databases and centralised servers, which are easy to hack, but the data stored in Blockchain is secure.
Digital IDs for privacy in the Web3 World
Even Web3 users need these self sovereign on-chain IDs for activities like Governance voting is visible as their identity is linked to public identifiers like wallet. So Daos can issue these kind Self Sovereign Digital IDs to users, so that their on-chain identity associated with their on-chain activities can be separated from their public wallets.
Please learn more about Polygon ID from here -:
Four Ways Polygon ID Will Impact Your Life
Polygon ID x Polygon DAO Integration Launches to Create New ZK-based Governance Frameworks
Polygon ID information on Polygon's website
Conclusion
Today, users need to be protected from exposure of their personal Data that can cause much harm from entities unethically targeting us for various reasons getting hold of our personal information.
Polygon ID looks like a promising on-chain, self sovereign, digital solution that will protect our personal data from being given to powerful entities, Governments who can track and do surveillance of our habits, activities with our personal details leaked from shared IDs.
Thank you for reading.