Digital identity

A digital identity is a verified electronic credential that proves who you are online. Instead of a separate login for the tax office, the health service and the parking permit — or a trip to a counter with paper documents — a resident signs in once with a single trusted account, and the service knows securely that it is really them.

Governments build this as the plumbing beneath everything else digital. Singapore's Smart Nation programme is anchored by Singpass, a national digital identity used by about 97% of residents aged 15 and over to reach hundreds of public and private services. At city scale, Tel Aviv's DigiTel resident card gives each registered resident a personalised login for municipal services, and Dubai folds a single sign-on into its DubaiNow app, which bundles roughly 370 services from dozens of entities. A trusted identity is also what lets a city safely open services and open data to residents without losing track of who is who.

The caveats are serious. A single ID is a single point of failure and a tempting target for attackers and surveillance alike, since it can quietly link a person's activity across many services. It can also exclude anyone without a smartphone, bank account or the confidence to use it — which is why the strongest systems keep offline alternatives and strict limits on what the identity may track.