Managing Identity

Managing information about people and their needs is critical to enabling responsive, personalized government services. However, issues of privacy, data security, and civil liberties are of major concern, and any approach to managing the “digital identity” of individuals must stand up to public scrutiny.

Today, while advances are being made on many fronts in transforming service for citizens, the management of identity has become a cultural and practical barrier to collaboration between service providers and citizens that is essential to innovation. As our digital footprints leave bigger and bigger tracks in this connected world, our concepts of privacy and security are undergoing their own evolution, challenging governments to provide direction. Public policymakers and practitioners need to be aware the arguments surrounding identity management in order for governments to find ways of dealing with this compelling problem.

Even in a Web 2.0 world, the issues raised around the identity and privacy of individuals have stalled the adoption of a more holistic transformation of service. Privacy is a public good that in most societies is considered a fundamental human right. Citizens need to feel secure about the management of their personal information. Using this personal information to improve service and ensuring its security and privacy need not be in conflict. Governments need to find the balance that recognizes that both sides of this coin have value.

The Identity Continuum

For the citizen, identity begins with birth and extends beyond death. For governments, in any given country, an individual’s personal identity is not managed on this birth/death continuum. Pieces of an individual’s identity are to be found in many individual programs and in multiple jurisdictions, and indeed they spill outside the traditional boundaries of government.

Identity should be managed the way it occurs—on the continuum of activities, interactions and relationships across a lifetime. When using or collecting the information, governments and citizens need to ensure its accuracy and respect individual privacy and security. Recognizing this continuum and its management is the key to unlocking the door to future multi-party collaboration. It is the foundation for easy access, and tailored individualized service. This will form the basis of the new information architecture which will become the backbone for the integration of service delivery and citizen engagement.

Today, the siloed approach to identity information mirrors the siloed programmatic structures of government. These structures do not recognize the more holistic fashion in which citizens live and want to be served by their governments. As a foundation for continuing the transformation of government services to citizens, identity management must be approached in a practical and pragmatic way, taking into account the identity continuum.

To learn more about the IOG's research on Managing Identity and the concept of the Identity Continuum, including how to put this approach into practice, please contact us.