digital interaction maps as an adaptive model of identity
I wonder if you’re familiar with the concept of a ‘microbiome’.
Our microbiome is our personal ‘fingerprint’ made up of the billions of organisms living inside us at any one time. Sounds gross, sure, but it’s also very interesting. Our microbiomes are a living, constantly adapting map of our environments that last over time, up to months or even years later. Things we’ve eaten, places we’ve been, illnesses, all mapped out through the number and kind of organisms living in us at any one time. Because of this, our microbiomes even naturally adapt and conform to the people we spend time with. These maps are so accurate that we are even able to use them forensically identify people.
Identity, and proof of identity, have always been complex ideas – even before the considerations of bringing identity on-chain. Single identity proofs, depending on their strength, are often not enough – even in real life. An example of this could be how you would recognise the voice of a co-worker only if you see their caller ID. Another example would be when you can only remember the person you’re speaking to after they mention the context in which you met. Physical identity proofs, such as driver’s licenses or passports, are often needed in combination in order to satisfy basic KYC processes. And what of identity over time? I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t be able to identify each other as we are today from our MySpace profiles years ago, or maybe even just a few hairstyles ago.
Identity is multi-faceted, and changes over time.
Technology companies, such as Google, are aware of this. Advertising revenue pays well to have up to date, relevant demographic data of customers. Luckily for them, a large amount of our time and energy is now spent on the internet. Each website visited, or comment posted, is another data point (or wealth of data points) to add to your ever-growing profile. In the way that your microbiome adapts to become similar to the people around you, so too does your online profile link you to the profiles of the devices around you.
However, the data that relates to us on the web2 internet is not owned – and is often not accessible – by us. Blockchain allows us to ‘claim’ our data and gain access, or at least awareness, of this data wherever it is being used. This unlocks a whole new world of ways in which we can prove our identity.
Digital Biome as a proof of identity over time.
Imagine that we took a measure of all of your interactions on the internet, and on-chain right now. That might look like interactions with certain websites, check-ins or location data at certain locations, messages to certain people and transactions at certain online or physical stores. That combination of data is ‘YOU’ as you are right now online.
However, in three months time, you may have moved, have changed your spending habits, be talking to different people and found a new favourite café. No doubt, some things would stay the same, such as interactions with your family and close friends, or transactions to a favourite online store. That new combination is now ‘YOU’ as you will be in three months.
If we were to regularly collect these snapshots, we may be able to measure and prove identity at any time, based on your digital biome.
This could then be used to identify falsified identity, or aberrant behaviour. If we are able to measure our ‘snapshot’ of actions on chain or across the internet in different combinations regularly, we can then predict when a transaction appears that is not in keeping with the pattern of any one person. (These kinds of predictions would be limited by the depth and richness of data).
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For those of us who are visual learners, I’ve mapped what this may look like below. Imagine each snapshot is a sine wave, where amplitude is surety of identity (peaking around snapshot), decaying either side, and frequency is a measure of time. If we could then map these sources of proof in different combinations at different times (different colours), we eliminate time where identity trust drops below an acceptable baseline.
(Source: Desmos)
(For what it’s worth though, I visualise the entire digital microbiome as a 3D mesh of static points that are all interconnectable. Connections that are made more often draw together, and less-used connections are further apart. I was recently introduced to ‘Braid’ a HTTP extension that would allow for adaption of HTTP to a synchronisation protocol - thanks, Rob Morris! – the general idea of stateless flexibility with multi-node synchronicity is very similar conceptually to how I envision these ‘biome maps’ to look. A topic for another post…)
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By using a measure such as a digital biome for identity, we are able to prove identity without giving our personal details, in a way that decays in usability over time if we’re not updating it. This reduces risk of identity theft or fraud into the future.
The issues of reputation and identity are rate-limiting factors in the safe widespread adoption of blockchain technologies. Through discussion of different models of identity, we safeguard against the use and adoption of unsafe practices so early into the utility of blockchain as a technology.
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