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Smart Contracts for Privacy-Preserving Identity Management: Ethics, Regulatory and Technical Challenges

Authors:
Carmela Occhipinti
Tetiana Vasylieva
Luigi Briguglio
Alessio Bianchini
Sayonara Crestani

Keywords: Privacy-Preserving Technology; Identity Management; Ethics and Regulatory Framework; Smart Contract; Blockchain; Regulation; GDPR; eIDAS.

Abstract:
Access to online data and service is a fundamental human right recognized by the United Nations. The current digital era, characterized by a continuously evolving network infrastructure which allows broadband and ubiquitous communication, can ensure this fundamental right to a broader number of citizens. However, if not properly managed, this fundamental right may be threatened by cyber threats and related identity frauds. For this reason, Identity Management (IdM) systems lay the foundation to enable this fundamental right. In the context of the IMPULSE project, the research team is adopting an “ethics-by-conception” approach to embed ethics, regulatory, and technical perspectives into the development process of the IdM system. This paper describes the ethics and regulatory framework which identifies principles and regulations to be applied during the development of an IdM system and, based on this framework, the research team identifies potential concerns and measures. This approach allows to design, implement and validate an IdM by integrating blockchain technology and smart contracts mechanism. Moreover, this IdM proposes an iconic representation to simplify the comprehension of policies in the informed consent and, therefore, it empowers users to take better decisions on access and management of their own personal data.

Pages: 36 to 41

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2023

Publication date: September 25, 2023

Published in: conference

ISBN: 978-1-68558-115-2

Location: Porto, Portugal

Dates: from September 25, 2023 to September 29, 2023