The Emerging Era of Digital Identities: Challenges and Opportunities for the G20

Key Points

• Digital identities have become popular worldwide given their potential to improve the efficiency, functionality, scalability, and coverage of government schemes and policies.
• A digital identity system must be situated within government to ensure inclusion, security, and sustainability.
• A robust accountability mechanism should be at the core of a digital identity system characterized by clearly designated roles and responsibilities for all parties involved, in tandem with a redressal mechanism to address logistical or systematic errors.
• Digital identity systems should be guarded with stringent cybersecurity and data privacy norms.
• Mandating digital identities for access to public services can lead to exclusion, especially in countries where internet penetration and digital literacy are relatively low.
• Mutual recognition of digital identities can enable cross-border economic integration and cooperation, though this needs to be supported by a robust and coordinated governance framework.