PUBLIC TRANSACTIONS PRIVATE TRANSACTIONS The relevance of digital identity stretches beyond Financial Services to society as a whole 17 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM | 2016 Entities are required to prove their identities or certain attributes to demonstrate their eligibility for public services Examples •Access to social assistance (e.g., old age security, unemployment insurance) •Access to education •Access to healthcare •Access to civic structures (e.g., voting)Entities are often required to prove their identities or certain attributes to participate in private transactions Examples •Many basic merchant transactions (e.g., buying alcohol) •Large private provider transactions (e.g., renting an apartment, buying a car) Identity enables many societal transactions, making strong identity systems critical to the function of society as a whole Physical identity systems currently put users at risk due to overexposure of information and the high risk of information loss or theft; they also put society at risk due to the potential for identity theft, allowing illicit actors to access public and private services. Digital identity would streamline and re‐risk completion of these public and private transactions.
