“Self-storage should mean ownership of everything about you” says Sharering’s Tim Bos – Interview Bitcoin News

According to Sharering, a blockchain-based platform that enables the creation and use of “self-overwhelming” verifiable credentials, millions of potential Internet users are still disconnected from the Internet because they lack necessary or verifiable identities, among other things. Without such verifiable identities or credentials, many disadvantaged groups, including refugees, are thus excluded from accessing information from the web that could improve their lifestyles.

Sharing on Bevis ID Online

To help such disadvantaged groups overcome this challenge, tech entrepreneurs and blockchain startups like Sharering have proposed or created a technology that enables internet users to “prove who they claim to be online.” Known as self-surveilling digital identity, this technology also ensures that “individuals maintain control and security over their own data.”

While the technology is apparently still in its infancy, a growing number of organizations including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have fully embraced it. For example, Unconnected.org, a UK-based social enterprise that “connects the unconnected” to the world wide web, recently said it has partnered with Sharering.

As explained in a recent press release, Unconnected.org, which seeks to connect one billion people to the Internet, believes that barriers that “add friction to the availability of data” can be overcome or solved with self-sovereign digital identities that are verifiable.

Some critics have argued that such verifiable digital identities come with flaws or drawbacks that can negate the perceived benefits. However, according to Tim Bos, CEO of Sharering, through hard work and constant tweaks, self-fulfilling digital identities are ideal when seeking to verify identities online.

In written responses to questions sent by Bitcoin.com News via Telegram, Bos also offered his thoughts on what he believes needs to be done to help regulators and authorities understand what Sharering and others are trying to achieve with self-overwhelming digital identities.

Below are Bos’ answers.

Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Sharering recently said it had become the official partner of unconnected.org, a social enterprise that seeks to “connect the unconnected” to the world wide web. The goal of this initiative is to connect 1 billion users to the internet. Can you tell our readers more about this partnership and why you support the goal of connecting so many people?

Tim Bos (TB): I think everyone can agree on the fact that the internet is a realm of information that grows every day, serving people from all walks of life and connecting them to each other in a relatively frictionless way. But as the web continues to evolve, so does the need for our digital identities, that is, how we are represented and recognized online.

Taking this statement into consideration, it was a natural reaction for us to contact unconnected.org and support their organization. They have an ambitious mission to connect 1 billion users to the internet. However, most if not all of these users are underserved, meaning they barely have the basic equipment to access the internet.

Sharing can potentially be the bridge between these underserved communities and their access to gated information and services online. Take refugees for example, their identities would be difficult to transfer from their country of origin and thus they would require some form of identity infrastructure to assimilate into the new societies. This relationship with Unconnected.org ignites conversations to explore Sharering’s identity technology to bridge underserved communities to the web and establish recognition through their digital identities.

BCN: Proponents of self-sovereign digital identities often claim that self-storage of one’s identity is the future. What does self-storage mean in the digital identity space, and do you envision more people embracing self-sovereign digital identities in the future?

TB: There is a lot of talk about people having self-storage of tokens, wallets and such along with the use of cold wallets, hot wallets and so on. But we believe that self-storage should mean ownership of everything about you. Your passport, driver’s license, medical certificates – all these documents are used to create and build your digital identity.

We feel that society has gone too far in the direction of giving too much information about ourselves to large organizations. By doing so, we lose self-storage of our information. Time and time again, we’ve seen that information hacked or stolen and used for malicious purposes.

BCN: As we have seen with crypto-assets, how regulators understand or perceive blockchain-based self-overriding digital identities can to some extent determine their fate. Therefore, what do you and other players in the digital identity space do to ensure that powerful organizations or individuals get the right information about your work and what you want to achieve?

TB: For starters, Deling can’t do anything about someone’s identity. One of our core values ​​is to give users full control. Our mission statement is centered around removing friction from everyday interactions while giving our users a higher level of security, trust and ownership of their information, so it’s not about us telling people what to do with their identity, but it’s about them controlling what they do with their identities.

We believe that people should be able to access goods or services by sharing a minimal amount of information. For example, when I sign up for a service, the site always asks for more information than is necessary to provide me with that service. If it’s a service where I have to prove I’m 18 or over, why do they need my full name, address, driver’s license and passport number?

What we mean is that we should be able to answer the simple question with “Yes, I’m over 18” without sharing any other personal information. So users are in control throughout the verification process, and every time they share information through sharing technology, they are always notified and prompted before information is actually shared, so they go into those processes and understand exactly what data or personal information they’re sharing. .

BCN: It has been said that self-fulfilling digital identities not only provide security and flexibility to users, but also allow them to share data only when they choose. However, critics point to the complex process of tracking personal data and permissions that may be beyond the reach of ordinary users. They insist that this and other disadvantages outweigh the advantages of self-sovereign identities. What would be your answer?

TB: We have started this journey with user experience at the core of everything we do. It has required a lot of hard work and a lot of testing to get to a point where we believe that the solution we have actually addresses the common, everyday user.

When someone needs to sign up for a service or prove something about themselves, we ask them a very simple question through the Sharering app and they have to approve that request to answer the question. For example, do you want to send your date of birth to this company? Or do you want to tell this company that you are over 18? All the user needs to do is place their thumb on the fingerprint reader on the mobile device to confirm and approve the request.

We have seen many blockchain-based, self-sufficient digital identity companies with systems that are not user-friendly. They assume that users have a lot of existing knowledge, and that users need to set up a wallet, go through processes, and connect to things like Metamask. We want to remove these barriers. We want to make it easy for people. In fact, a new version of what we’re doing removes things like the recovery key, so you can sign up without having to think about a recovery key, and you just enter your name and email address. There is no need for a password; you just use your biometrics.

An exception is when you want to back up your vault. You will then be prompted to save and note down a recovery key. The identity part – where you scan documents to prove and verify your identity – you only need to do this the first time you use your digital identity. We call this the “adjustment time process”, to make it easier for users to access the sharing ecosystem as we remove this barrier from future data transactions.

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwean award-winning journalist, writer and author. He has written extensively about the economic problems in some African countries, as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.