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Should electronic identities be managed by the state?
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Ensure protection in totalitarian state

This mechanism might be necessary for non'democratic countries.
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The Argument

By allowing an external entity (even outside the state itself) to validate user identity, individuals can ensure the state will not impede upon their freedoms of speech.[1] If states have the power to control and monitor electronic identities, states' power over individual rights increases, which would threaten civil rights. In totalitarian governments, state control over electronic identities would be disastrous. Citizens would live in constant fear of repercussions and consequences if they were being monitored by their state around the clock. External parties can provide the same amount of security and accuracy that the state can to manage electronic identities, without the risk of impeding on individual freedoms of speech and privacy.[2] If the state was allowed to regulate and monitor electronic identities, they would have the power to spy on citizens without their knowledge. This is too much power for a state to hold because the state has its own political and economic motives that don't always benefit their citizens.[2]

Counter arguments

An entity that is not specifically controlled by a state does not have legal grounds to validate identities. States have the resources available to make identification more safe and secure. Private companies can sell identification information to the highest bidder.[1] Private entities are about profit and can not be relied on to hold such valuable information. In totalitarian states, state entities can hold private information with regulations and laws enforced by external entities to provide more citizen safety. Full privatization could bring about more corruption and could affect totalitarian regimes and laws. For example, private corporations could begin to buy off those in power to force laws and changes that would benefit their company assets instead of the good of society and the state. Privatization of such valuable information could negatively impact human rights.

Proponents

Premises

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.bbvaresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Digital-Identity_the-current-state-of-affairs.pdf
  2. https://www.zdnet.com/article/identity-management-101-how-digital-identity-works/#:~:text=Digital%20identity%20is%20asserted%20through,management%20is%20not%20identity%20management.&text=In%20most%20cases%2C%20digital%20identity%20is%20a%20token%20comprised%20of%20data.
This page was last edited on Tuesday, 15 Sep 2020 at 22:39 UTC

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