Maximizing Trust and Efficiency: Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identity by Char Howland

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Exploring Trust in the Digital World with Shar Howland

Welcome to our special guest for this discussion, Shar Howland, who is a software engineer at inDCO and co-moderator of a hyper ledger open source working group. Located in Denver, Colorado, Shar has an academic background in physics, which he has successfully transitioned into software engineering. Today, Shar is going to talk about the important and intricate topic of trust in digital environments, exploring how digital identities can enhance trust and security. So, let's dive straight in.

Establishing Trust Online: The Importance & Challenges

In the year 2022, we live a significant part of our lives in a space laden with trust issues - the internet. With numerous activities such as socializing, banking, shopping, learning, working, and even healthcare, moving online, security and privacy are paramount. Shar points out that despite the convenience of the internet, there are still gaps in verification, privacy, and security that concern average users. The central question is: How can we trust the person, or even the dog, we interact with online?

The Solution: Decentralized Identities

In a bid to enhance the trust and security of our digital interactions, Shar introduces the concept of decentralized identities. Decentralized identity revolves around the idea that each individual controls their own identity information in the same way that they would control their physical wallet.

In terms of enhancing verification, privacy, security, and resilience, decentralized identity offers a viable alternative to centralized systems. With blockchain technology, the secure and private digital equivalent to physical identity documents can be created.

Tackling the Aspects of the Digital Trust Challenge

1. Verification

Shar explains how decentralized identity solves the challenge of verification through the use of verifiable credentials, such as passports, driver’s licenses, or diplomas. With decentralized identity, the cryptographic keys stored on the blockchain confirm that a credential is issued from its claimed source and remains unaltered.

2. Privacy

Then comes privacy — a common concern online. Shar pointed out that verifiable credentials could be adjusted to disclose only the necessary pieces of information. This is known as selective disclosure. Furthermore, zero-knowledge proofs add a layer of privacy by revealing minimum information while verifying if a user meets a given requirement.

3. Security

Security is the third aspect of the challenge. Here, Shar highlighted the paradigm of zero-trust security, which requires everyone to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated. Verifiable credentials remove the need for personal accounts, passwords, and logins, thus making the verification process frictionless.

4. Resilience

The final aspect is resilience. Shar mentions that decentralized identifiers and distributed ledgers are resilient systems since they do not have a single point of failure.

Fostering a Trusted Digital Ecosystem

Shar elaborates on how decentralized identity and verifiable credentials can foster a trusted digital ecosystem. This refers to an ecosystem for verifying and sharing high-value information in a trusted manner.

Decentralized Identity in Action: The Cardia Project

To illustrate how this technology is used today, Shar recommends considering the Cardia project. This award-winning project allows travelers to verify their COVID vaccination or test status to the Government Health Representative while protecting their health information and privacy.

Preparing for the Future of Digital Interaction

In preparation for the burgeoning era of interconnected devices and processes, described as the spatial web, Shar posits that digital trust will become more crucial. Decentralized identity positioned at the core of online interactions could enhance the security and privacy of these interactions.

Final Thoughts and Invitation for More Involvement

Shar concludes his insightful presentation by inviting interested individuals to learn more about the technology and even get involved in building it. He also provides contact information for further queries.

With the increasing shift of activities online, Shar’s valuable insights into establishing trust, privacy, and security in the digital world are enormously relevant and timely. His contributions add to the ongoing discourse on making the internet safe, reliable, and user-friendly for all.


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