I’ve written before about the promise—and the peril—of our current digital landscape. About how fragmented, extractive, and impersonal our online lives have become. And how the next era of the internet must be built around people, not platforms. But of all the ideas I’ve explored, there is one concept that feels more important, more foundational than the rest: digital identity.
This is where the real fix begins.
At the core of any meaningful shift in our digital future is the need to reimagine identity. Not just as a convenience, or a login, or a set of credentials—but as a deeply intelligent, secure, and user-controlled experience. In the language of IUX—Intelligent User Experience—identity is the root system from which every other experience grows. How we verify ourselves, how we protect our privacy, how we manage our data, how we build trust with others, and how we engage with the systems that now shape so much of modern life. All of it begins with identity.
Just last week, Apple made headlines by expanding its Digital ID initiative—offering support for driver’s licenses and state IDs in the Apple Wallet across several U.S. states. It’s a move that signals where things are headed: mainstream digital identity, integrated into our most personal devices. Apple emphasizes security and privacy, and to their credit, they've set a higher standard than most. But as convenient as this is, we should stop and ask: Whose version of identity are we integrating into our future? Who controls it?
Because if the next evolution of identity is still owned by platforms, then we’re not fixing anything—we’re just reskinning the same system.
What we need is sovereign identity. Not sovereign in name only, but in function, philosophy, and architecture. A system built not to extract value from users, but to return control to them. A system where identity is no longer fragmented across a thousand databases but unified, encrypted, and owned by the individual.
Imagine logging in not with a username and password, but with a portable, verified identity you control. Imagine choosing what to share—your age, your residency, your qualifications—with one click, without revealing anything else. Imagine being able to revoke access just as easily. That’s what intelligent identity can do. It makes the user experience seamless, secure, and respectful. It eliminates friction while restoring dignity.
To get there, we need more than apps. We need infrastructure. And two ideas I believe are critical to that foundation are data trusts and blockchain.
Data trusts are legal and technical entities that manage personal data on behalf of individuals. They act like digital fiduciaries—obligated to operate with your best interest in mind. Instead of checking a box and surrendering your data forever, you set the terms: who can use your data, for what purpose, and for how long. That control lives with you, not the company on the other side of the screen.
Blockchain, meanwhile, offers a powerful way to enforce those permissions. It creates transparent, immutable records of who accessed what, when, and under what agreement. Paired with zero-knowledge proofs, blockchain-based identity can prove facts about you (like your age or citizenship) without exposing your personal details. It’s the technical backbone for a world where trust doesn’t require surrender.
This isn’t just a privacy play. The use cases are vast and transformational. You could monetize your data—choosing to share it with brands, researchers, or organizations in exchange for compensation. You could protect your children online—establishing digital guardrails around what platforms can collect or expose. You could simplify healthcare access, education verification, and even financial approvals. And perhaps most human of all, you could decide how your digital legacy is handled after you’re gone.
We often talk about “user-centric” design in tech, but rarely do we mean it in any deep, structural way. True user-centricity begins with ownership. And ownership begins with identity.
That’s why I’ve started calling this idea SovereignID—not just a product, but a platform for rethinking how we engage with the internet. It’s the beginning of a broader movement toward individual empowerment in a digital world that’s drifted too far from its original promise. SovereignID is not an app you download. It’s a shift in mindset, a new layer of digital life where people—not platforms—hold the keys to who they are and how they show up online.
Of course, there are risks. Centralized data is a target. Misused identity systems can lead to surveillance or exclusion. And not everyone will have equal access to the tools unless we build inclusively. But the far greater risk is in doing nothing—leaving our digital selves to be auctioned, compromised, and forgotten in systems that see us only as users, never as individuals.
The IUX of identity isn’t just about making things easier. It’s about making them right. It’s about rebuilding the foundation of the internet in a way that respects autonomy, privacy, and humanity.
If we get identity right, we can get everything else right too.
Let’s build it.
If today’s episode made you think differently about the way we show up online—about what’s broken and what’s worth fixing—share it with someone who cares about building better systems, not just shinier ones.
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Until next time—demand more from your tools, believe in human-centered design, and don’t forget: the future belongs to those who build it.
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