Let's Design a Secure and Inclusive Identity System
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Identity. It is a person’s most valued commodity. It is what makes each and every one of us unique. It is how we define ourselves, and it dictates the ways in which others view us. Identity influences our behaviour, governs our preferences, and shapes the types of opportunities and challenges that we face throughout our lives.
But identity is so much more than that.
These days, identity is the key that unlocks the digital world, where our likes and dislikes are concentrated into datasets and algorithms that influence how we connect with the world around us. Through our digital identities, we can interact with services and access products. Our digital identities can even influence real-world decisions through targeted marketing and advertising.
Undeniably, our digital identity is important. And the more we use it, the more reliant on it we will become. It is therefore essential that digital interfaces be fit-for-purpose.
So how can designers ensure that their identity systems are equipped in delivering services that are not only functional, but are trustworthy enough to handle our most prized possession?
Identity system starter pack
Speaking at the Digital Government Festival, Thoughtworks identified several principles for creating identity systems. We outline a few below.
There is no such thing as an outlier person – design for edge cases
It is up to designers to ensure that users are able to interact seamlessly with digital products and services. This requires time and research in tailoring approaches and solutions that cater to all, not just the select few. To do this, designers must turn their minds to edge cases.
“If you design for the edge cases, the middle will be satisfied. If you design for the middle, the edges will be left out,” Thoughtworks Principal Service Designer, Katherine Alsop, says. If designers don’t consider the needs of those on the edge, the system design might wind up being useless (at best) or (at worst) detrimental.
Consent must be truly informed
How often do you actually read the T&Cs before agreeing to them? The answer is probably ‘never’.
Whether it be an online service or a phone application, we routinely accept data policies without turning our minds to what is contained within them. When we do this, what we are saying is that we give our consent to collect and share our data in accordance with whatever terms are outlined in the policy. Consent is taken to be given irrespective of whether or not we actually understand what it is that we are agreeing to.
There is a lot of distrust when it comes to identity sharing in the digital world. While we don’t ordinarily question sharing our identity in person, doing so online can make us wary. This is because we don’t fully understand what is being shared and how that data is being used.
To mitigate this, designers must build systems where all users feel informed and secure before, during and after sharing personal information.
Robin Doherty, Lead Security Architect at Thoughtworks, considers that a more appropriate way of collecting data would be via a licensing model. Characteristics of the model, which include writing policy free of legalese, and providing concrete details around what information is being collected, how it will be handled, and what level of consent has been given, will assist users in being more aware of what it is they are signing up to. The “licensing approach is a way of giving the user a sense of control and helps them understand what information they are sharing,” Doherty says.
Design for trust
Trust is the cornerstone of digital identity. To facilitate trust, service designers must ensure that data practices are secure, transparent and audible.
According to Doherty, source codes of secure data should be published. In fact, the more secure the data needs to be, the more public its source code should be. By making source codes public, designers can more easily find security vulnerabilities and verify that there are no surveillance backdoors.
As a way of increasing transparency, Doherty suggests that unbiased audits be conducted regularly, the results of which should be made public. Though, in an ideal world, everything would be capable of being audited, Doherty notes that this may not be possible, as auditing everything would require that all personal data be logged. Accordingly, service designers need to balance protecting the privacy of individual records with being able to trace unauthorised access.
