Identosphere 242 Aug 25-Sept 1: German Authorities react to mDL • AI & Identity • DIDAS explains Swiss system being voted on • DIACC on EU-Can Trade
This is the weekly Identosphere Newsletter sharing highlights from around the web covering Decentralized and Self-Sovereign Identity curated by Kaliya Young, Identity Woman.
UpComing
How to Turn Open Finance Data Into Digital ID Credentials And Connect IAM Silo [Demo] [Online] September 4th
Identity Week America, September 10-11, Washington DC [Link for Free Ticket] (Kaliya will be moderating a decentralized identity panel there)
Agentic AI Massive Open Online Course hosted by UC Berkeley begins September 15th
International Conference on Digital Identity, Digital Wallets and AI, October 21, Edinburgh, Scotland
Internet Identity Workshop #41 October 21-23 Mountain View California
** Save the Date ** Agentic Internet Workshop* October 24th Mountain View California (*Inspired by and hosted by IIW)
Call for Papers
ACM Transactions on Distributed Ledger Technologies: Research and Practice Special Issue on Emerging Technologies in Blockchain Research: Concepts, Fundamentals, and Applications. Topics Include * Decentralized identity and authentication. Submissions deadline: January 31, 2026
General News
Digital identity: German authorities do not monitor use
Such a "phone home function" must be ruled out in order not to make users transparent. Co-signatories such as eID expert Kaliya Young criticize the fact that the ISO mDL/mDOC 18013-5 standard, which virtually pre-installs such a server retrieval option, is prescribed in the reference architecture for the EUDI wallet and is also widely used in North America.
[Instagram] Bhutan National Digital Identity (Bhutan NDI) has partnered with Silicon Valley-based software company iDen2
Bhutan National Digital Identity (Bhutan NDI) has partnered with Silicon Valley-based software company iDen2 to launch Phenix. Phenix is a digital identity solution that will cater to the international market and is expected to generate revenue for Bhutan NDI.
Procivis shared this news with me that they are part of the WE BUILD Consortium
WE BUIlD Consortium
In the WE BUILD Consortium 27 countries are represented. Over 180 organizations are involved, including 13 National Business Registers, Tax Authorities, Banks & Financial Institutions, Wallet Providers & QTSPs, Technology Companies & SMEs and Academic & Research Institutions. This structure enables cross-sectoral and cross-border collaboration, ensuring that both the technical infrastructure and policy alignment are addressed cohesively and inclusively. The project is divided into six main Work Packages, each with a specific focus.
Decentralized Identity and Wallet Integration: How MetaMask's Social Login Signals a New Era for Web3 Adoption
MetaMask's recent launch of its Social Login feature—allowing users to create, back up, and restore wallets using GoogleGOOGL or AppleAAPL accounts—has redefined the onboarding process for Web3. This innovation, coupled with the broader rise of decentralized identity (DID) protocols and seamless fiat on-ramps, signals a critical inflection point: crypto is no longer a niche hobby but a mainstream financial infrastructure.
AI and Identity
How to secure the identity perimeter and prepare for AI agents
Ping Identity CEO Andre Durand explains why identity has become the critical security battleground, how decentralised credentials will reduce data breach risks, and why AI agents will need their own identities to be trusted
(Doc Searls) On Being Agentic
I wrote a chapter on Agency in The Intention Economy because back then (2012) the word mostly meant an insurance or advertising business. The earlier meaning, derived from the Latin agere, meaning “to do,” had mostly been forgotten.
(Heather Flanagan) Bot or Not? Why Incentives Matter More Than Identity
“Let’s start with a confession: I love bots. Or at least, I love the idea of them.”
They’re efficient, tireless, and, if designed well, can be downright helpful. (They can also be downright unhelpful, but that’s a topic for a different blog post.) But the incentives around bot traffic are completely out of balance, and that makes things messy.
(Doc Searls) The Hotel Model of AI
What I like best about Keith Teare‘s latest essay, Who Owns The Front Door to AI? If it isn’t you, its game over, is that it sounds like he’s setting up the case for personal AI.
But he’s not. He’s describing how our AI-assisted lives will get sucked through better interfaces deep into one or more of AI’s giant castles, as “the chat interface replaces the browser as the primary user interface for computing on the web.”
(DIF) Scaling AI DIFferently: Translating Promise into Value
The article argues that AI systems' promises of delegation, personalization, and decision-making cannot scale securely without decentralized identity infrastructure that can prove who the system works for, what it's authorized to do, and whether its outputs can be trusted. It explores how verifiable credentials and decentralized identity models can address critical challenges in AI deployment, from managing autonomous agents with proper authority checks to enabling consent-based personalization and combating AI-generated fraud through cryptographic authenticity verification.
How to Build a Python MCP Server to Consult a Knowledge Base
Turn a blog into a searchable knowledge base for your AI assistant. Follow this step-by-step guide to build a local MCP server in Python, giving an MCP client the ability to interact with a blog without you ever having to leave the chat
Travel
Answering IATA’s call: how Indicio solves the bottlenecks in air travel
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently released a new white paper, Unlocking the Future – The Passenger’s Journey Toward a Seamless and Contactless Experience which highlights the pressing challenges facing aviation: growing passenger volumes, repeated identity checks, and the burden of manual document verification at every stage of the journey.
Regulatory Landscape
California’s Countdown to Zero Trust—A Practical Path Through Radiant Logic
every executive-branch department must show a mature Zero-Trust architecture by June 1, 2026.
DIACC Submission to the Government of Canada’s Consultation on a Possible Canada‑EU Digital Trade Agreement
* Mutual Recognition of Industry Standardized Trust Frameworks
* Mutual Recognition of Trust Frameworks
* Economic Growth in Key Sectors
* Recognition of Digital Sovereignty
* Secure and Privacy‑Respecting Cross‑Border Data Flows
* Cybersecurity, Fraud Prevention & Consumer Protection
* Digital Inclusion and MSME Participation
(DIDAS) The Big Comparison: From Flop to Personal Digital Fortress
For those who want to dig deeper: we’ve compared the 2019 proposal and the new 2024 BGEID in detail (to the best of our knowledge). The document shows in black and white why the new E-ID is not a reheated version, but a true paradigm shift – from a private product to a state trust infrastructure.
Identity AI and Health Research
[Nature Digital Medicine] Enabling secure and self determined health data sharing and consent management
Digital health tools generate vast sensitive data not only in clinic but also from apps and wearables. Effective consent management builds trust, increasing willingness for data sharing. We present a novel early-stage conceptual framework, reviewing technologies like blockchain, self-sovereign identity, and de-identified tokens for integration into a consent management system to enable tracking of consent and data utilization. This balances data access and privacy to encourage data sharing and improve healthcare.
The Self-Sovereign Patient as a Cornerstone of Healthcare 4.0
Healthcare 4.0 represents a shift toward patient-centric care where individuals use blockchain, IoT, and AI technologies to become "Self-Sovereign Patients" who control their own health data and care decisions. While these technologies offer promising benefits like personalized care and reduced workforce burdens, significant challenges around data governance, regulatory compliance, health equity, and institutional integration must be addressed to realize this vision responsibly.
Decentralized Web
Networked Agent Organizations — Identity Shift
So what kind of alternative to DAOs could we build specifically for agents? The answer lies in emerging organizational structures called Networked Agent Organizations (NAOs or ANOs, depending on the preferred abbreviation). These represent mixed organizations where artificial intelligence agents, humans, gig workers, and other entities work together collaboratively to achieve common goals.
Thoughtful
Identity Management just isn’t what it used to be
There is one thing that has become abundantly clear for both organizations and customers: Suspicion must be the new normal. It’s a sad, but true reflection on the state of things right now. For customers, it means manual verification of information requests. Do not submit or provide data over the phone without independently verifying that they are communicating with the right people.