Empowering Self-Sovereign Identity: Revolutionizing Data Control With Velocity Network
By: Andres Olave
Part 1 of a six-part series on governance
Self-sovereign identity centers on placing data control squarely in the hands of individuals. The goal shared by all stakeholders is to rectify a mistake that has grown exponentially since the late 90s—the dominance of certain companies over personal information. To enact significant change, collaboration is critical. This collaboration involves the government and the private sector working together.
Empowering Individuals Through Collaboration
Collaboration between the private sector and governments is about agreeing on the problems to be solved and using that knowledge to choose standardized technology and governance. These two standardizations enable mass market adoption and competition while never compromising on security and privacy.
Created by Velocity Network Foundation, Velocity Network is a consortium of over 80 HR and education companies. Its goal is to pioneer an open credential market, facilitating a variety of improvements that make the career landscape easier for individuals to navigate. This includes benefits such as streamlining the employment application process, assistance from AI copilots in identifying the ideal candidates for a role, and AI assistance for career advancement.
Shifting Paradigms: The Three-Party Model
Championed by Velocity Network, the three-party model offers an alternative, empowering individuals with unparalleled control over their data. Velocity Network Foundation believes that reaching this new world requires a shift away from empowering data brokers and instead focusing on the individual’s ownership and use of their data. This data will be stored in career wallets, essentially digital CVs controlled directly by employees and students themselves, with data stored on their own devices or by their trusted wallet provider.
The three-party model stands in stark contrast to the outdated two-party system, where data flowed from controllers to relying parties with little to no input from individuals. Often, this transfer occurred without explicit consent, buried deep within privacy policies that most people never bother to read, resulting in an illusion of choice. However, in the new model, data is directed to the individual, granting them full authority over its distribution to relying parties. This shift empowers individuals with unprecedented control over their personal data, marking a significant step towards reclaiming data ownership and privacy rights.