Modern identity systems aren't just about 'checking papers'. Increasingly, 

  • our identity is becoming our password that unlocks our devices and grants us access to our rights; 
  • our identity is also the profile developed by others, binding us to our recorded characteristics and behaviours and conduct and activities; and
  • the identity assigned to us is increasingly a proverbial weight around our necks that defines us and is used to constrain. 

Governments and industry are building identity systems to support their needs to administer, govern, and profit. In turn, they are being used to facilitate targeting, profiling and surveillance. Despite their rhetoric, they are not designed for us and our empowerment. These systems are designed to target and exclude.