Trust, risk and eID: Exploring public perceptions of digital identity systems

[Pinga]

This paper offers an account of the perceptions of citizens from the U.K. and Germany on the subject of interoperable electronic identity (eID) systems. This study suggests that the perceived risks derive from, and are amplified by, low trust beliefs in public authorities responsible for identity management. Three dimensions of trustworthiness in government were found — competence, integrity and benevolence — constructed from negative past experiences of IT failures, function creep, and political history of oppression.

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin...view/3867/3196

[mirimir]

Originally Posted by Pinga

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin...view/3867/3196

The abstract ends with this:

Practical implications deriving from the study concern trust enhancement and risk reduction strategies aimed at winning public acceptance of eID systems in electronic services.

The authors discuss perceived socio–political risk as reflecting doubts about governments' benevolence. But they don't explicitly acknowledge the value of anonymity in opposing oppression. That is a glaring omission. Ironically, though, they do note:

Although the dataset provided a wealth of material about citizen perceptions, we recognise the limitation of Web surveys as self–selected samples. We could have opted for in–depth interviews but this method has its own drawbacks. Interviews would not have provided the diverse and anonymous responses obtained through the Web survey.