A digital identity for every citizen on the globe has been identified by the World Bank and World Economic Forum as an important part in the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The right to a legal identity is a part of Global Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). An effort to achieve this is the ID2020 Alliance. A Public-Private Partnership between United Nations agencies, World Economic Forum, Foundations and Big Tech-corporations. Their grand goal do however raise some concerns about loss of privacy, mass surveillance and population control. It comes with a price that might have severe implications for the freedom of man.
ID2020 was founded in New York 2014 by John Edge, an expert on how Public-Private Partnerships can solve the sustainability goals with the help from blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies.
The organisation, that was supported by law firm Kaye Scholer, technology conglomerate Red Rose Corporation and the merchant bank Broadhaven, held their first meeting in September 2015. Their stated mission was to give a digital identity to everyone through “leveraging start-up models” and in the end create a system that would span the globe, including the 1 billion people that currently have no proper identification.
Their first meeting, coinciding with the adoption of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, was connected to Global Goal 16 with its sub target 9 to “by 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration”.
ID2020 got a more solid ground at the United Nations annual summit in May 20, 2016, gathering industry leaders, NGOs, governments, emerging technology pioneers, and cross-industry experts to “foster a global conversation and build a working coalition to identify and build the enabling conditions for the creation of a legal digital identity for all individuals at risk.”
Speakers came from The World Bank Group, The European Association for e-Identity & Security, Commonwealth Secretariat, Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, MIT, PSG Solutions, LLC., Verizon. Several of them were also contributors to the World Economic Forum that has since been a significant player in the development of a Digital ID.
The following year, at the annual summit 2017 in the United Nations ECOSOC Chamber, ID2020 adopted “the platform of change” and started the ID2020 Alliance, with funding from major donor Rockefeller Foundation and the digital technology consultant firm Accenture. Other founding partners were GAVI – The Vaccine Alliance, Microsoft and IDEO.org (a design and consultant firm with partners like The Rockefeller Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Bezos Family Foundation). Participants included Intel, IBM, Verizon, Samsung, NEC, and SAP. The Alliance featured a very tight connection between big tech companies, foundations, and vaccine and health interests.
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