Most people don't think about identity until it is stolen in the digital world. However, digital IDs don't work the way you might think. Identity on the Internet is divided into two different types of data.
Identity data is any content and credentials you create for a particular site. They link your content to your username and build a digital persona for themselves. The other half of the equation is the identifier. An identifier is personally verifiable information, such as your phone number or email address, that is directly linked to your identity.
The problem immediately arises that companies own all the data related to your digital presence. This creates an uneasy situation where you have to play by the rules of these companies or risk losing your online platform.
Many people link their identifiers to other sites through interfaces. These make life easier for individuals who just want to log into a specific location without creating a new account. Likewise, if you lose access to these third-party identifiers that are controlled by large companies, you may also lose data on these sites.
So how do we solve this problem? ION is a system designed to put identifiers under user control through decentralized technologies such as blockchain and IPFS for storing verification data. How does ION manage this? It all starts with something called a decentralized identifier (DID).
W3C Decentralized Identifier
Decentralized Identifiers, or DIDs, are a standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for decentralized identifiers and public key infrastructure. DID is a way to give users complete control over their online data and their online identity in an encrypted and secure form.
Just like any other encryption process, the user gets a public key and a private key. The user's public key will form the basis for enabling the ION network to verify their information. Since DIDs are completely under the user's control, there is no need to worry about being locked out of the account. Additionally, DIDs provide secure authentication that is impervious to tampering and tracking.
A central challenge of modern ID systems is tracking how a person's appearance and their digital "footprint" change over time. ION's system was originally developed to figure out how to record a series of chronological records that could adapt to changes in time. With an immutable record anchored on the blockchain, anyone can track these changes over time to ensure the DID belongs to whoever holds it. All of this is possible with ION.
What is ION?
ION is a DID solution built on top of the blockchain, leveraging its immutability and flexibility. It is a public, open, permissionless layer 2 network dedicated to generating and verifying DIDs. Unlike other DID solutions, ION does not rely on additional consensus schemes, unique utility tokens, central authorities or validators. Instead, it's designed to serve users they can control.
ION and IPFS
Initially, ION nodes will collect batches of DID operations and anchor them to the blockchain network. All nodes observe the network for ION embedded transactions. When this happens, the node takes the files linked to embedded CIDs, processes them, and keeps them to resolve the DID operations they contain.
ION uses data such as core index files, core proof files, temporary index files, temporary proof files, and block files. These files are stored on IPFS, so the only content passed to ION is the Content ID (CID) from IPFS. ION can then use these CIDs to retrieve data, using the public gateway to the IPFS network.
The IPFS system provides redundant storage so user information is never lost as multiple nodes redundantly host the same data on the network. Retrieval using CIDs is many times faster than entering data directly into ION for verification.
ION has created a scalable system where thousands of users can leverage the infrastructure to quickly verify data. ION's identity system is built on the basis of the blockchain network and utilizes the CID from the IPFS network, which is completely decentralized.
At the same time, they can combine several processes into one batch. This batch solution can reduce the cost to pennies per transaction, making it an affordable solution. The immutability of blockchain makes it resilient and traceable, ideal for easy access to ID data from anywhere in the world.
How to use ION?
ION can see many uses in many situations. The most obvious use case is verifiable credentials. Businesses can credential employees, which can then be verified on the blockchain when they arrive at their destination. This feature also enhances its usefulness as a means of presenting and validating international travel documents.
In addition to being used to transmit secure data, ION can also be used as a storage for personal data. Non-professionals can think of it as a digital business card, but there are other benefits. If a user shares their public key with someone, all parties can communicate securely, end-to-end, and inaccessible to third parties.
Also, this data logic makes it easier to connect applications. Instead of worrying about the data stored on the application server, they will use your identifier. Using this approach will force all applications to operate with the same underlying data, ensuring there is no room for error.
Travel planning with apps will be made simpler, as all apps will use the same source data. Another use case might come from the certification of organizations. Using an organization's public key, users can verify their certification status and track their certification history over time.
A new way to manage personal data
ION is one of those technologies that can cause intrinsic changes in the way we do things. Most people don't think twice about their identifiers or digital identities. However, digital identity will take on a whole new meaning as digital lifestyles become the norm.