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EU in Practice: The European Digital Identity Wallet · REDefine // Civic Intelligence Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Someone asks whether you are over 18.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: You hand them an identity card and suddenly they also have your full name,
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: exact date of birth, photograph, nationality and document number.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: We are used to doing this, but it is a very inefficient way of answering a simple question.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: The European Digital Identity Wallet is trying to change that.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: The idea is not simply to put your identity card, driving license or diploma on your phone.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: The more important change is something called selective disclosure.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of revealing your whole identity, you may be able to prove only the fact that matters.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, if a website genuinely needs to know whether you are an adult, it could receive one answer.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Over 18?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It would not automatically need your name, your birthday or the rest of your identity.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: The same principle can apply to qualifications,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: driving licenses, public services and other credentials.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And because the system is being built around common European standards,
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: a credential issued in one country should be easier to verify in another.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: That matters because digital identity is not really a storage problem.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It is a trust problem.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: A diploma is useful across borders only if the organization receiving it can trust
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: who issued it, whether it is authentic and whether it is still valid.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: But better technology does not automatically create better privacy.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: If proving personal attributes becomes extremely easy,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: organizations may simply start asking for more of them.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the important question is not only how little can I disclose,
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: it is also why are you asking me for this information in the first place?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: The wallet is supposed to remain voluntary and people
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: who do not use it must still have other ways to access services.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Its most interesting promise is therefore not that Europeans may soon carry more
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: of themselves inside their phones.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is that we may finally be able to reveal less of ourselves to people
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: who never needed the rest.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: For the full story,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: including how the wallet is meant to work across borders,
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: the privacy risks,
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: and why voluntary access will matter in practice,
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: read the full EU in Practice article on Redefine Civic Intelligence on Substack.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And subscribe if you want more explainers on
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: the European systems shaping everyday life,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: including the parts that are usually hidden underneath.