a Contributed Article by Kihyuk Lee, the Vice Chairman of DID Alliance Korea
(a professor at Chung-Ang University, the Chairman
of Korea FIDO Forum)
At the end of 1999, I was the first to use the word of ‘platform’
in Korea. And in 2000, the following year, I was working as the manager of platform
development department by forming an organization named as Platform Research
Institute. At that time, I was busy explaining the meaning of ‘platform’
because not many people understood that word.
15 years later, I came across FIDO(Fast Identity Online)
which was started in United States and I established Korea FIDO Forum in 2015
and have been operating it since then. As you may already know, FIDO is the
technology for safe and convenient personal authentication with biometrics,
which is to replace typing in ids and passwords on the small screens of widely spread
smartphones.
DID, the Identification system based on blockchain, is recently
drawing global attention. The new system emphases the trust through
decentralization, which is one of the core technologies of the Fourth
Industrial Revolution.DID shares similar ideas with FIDO. That is, the
individual manages his identity in his own smart phone, not in a centralized
server. Considering the risk, as high as 75%, of privacy invasion of
centralized identity system, DID may significantly reduce such issues.
Also, self-managing one’s identification in mobile devices supports
the idea of self-sovereign identity and reduces inconvenient of repeated
logging-ins. Based on these strengths, various companies are preparing to get
into DID based on blockchain by forming consortiums.
The goal is to provide ID service to everyone. Microsoft,
Apple and Facebook announced their business plans on DID as well as some of the
domestic companies. However, a few companies’ providing related services will
not be enough to the expansion of DID. In this context, it is quite meaningful
that various parties in Korea gathered to form the DID Alliance. This will be a
basis for Korea to be in a leadership position in identification technology,
its global standardization and expanding DID ecosystem for many global entities
to join.
While pursuing the establishment of test beds and business
models as suggested by DID Alliance, the participants will have better access
to strategic partnerships. Additionally, various types of consortium networks
will generate synergy effects for entities with different specialties.
DID Alliance led by Korea will be the pioneer of blockchain based DID industry with emphasis on standardizing DID technology.,