Introducing Privacy-Preserving Identity Verification
Terry Wall
Head of Product
Today we're thrilled to announce the launch of our new privacy-preserving identity verification features. This represents a fundamental shift in how identity verification works—proving who you are without over-sharing your personal information.
The Problem with Traditional Identity Verification
When you verify your identity online today, you typically have to share your entire ID document. Want to prove you're over 21? You end up sharing your full name, address, date of birth, ID number, and more. This creates several problems:
- ✕Over-sharing: Services collect more data than they actually need
- ✕Data breaches: The more places your data exists, the more likely it gets compromised
- ✕No user control: Once shared, you lose control over how your data is used
Introducing Selective Disclosure
Our new privacy-preserving identity verification uses a technique called selective disclosure. Instead of sharing your entire ID, you can reveal only the specific attributes needed for each verification.
How It Works
- 1You verify your identity once with AffirmID by scanning your government ID
- 2We create a cryptographic proof of your verified attributes
- 3When a service requests verification, you choose which attributes to share
- 4The service receives only the proof they need—nothing more
Real-World Examples
Here's how selective disclosure works in practice:
Age Verification
A bar wants to verify you're over 21.
Employment Eligibility
An employer needs to verify work authorization.
Address Verification
A service needs to verify your country of residence.
Privacy by Design
Our implementation follows privacy-by-design principles:
- Zero-knowledge proofs: Cryptographic verification without revealing underlying data
- On-device processing: Your original documents never leave your device
- User consent: Every disclosure requires your explicit approval
- Audit trail: See exactly what you've shared and with whom
Available Today
Privacy-preserving identity verification is available now for all AffirmID users. To get started:
- 1. Update your AffirmID app to the latest version
- 2. Go to Settings → Identity Verification
- 3. Complete the one-time verification process
- 4. Start using selective disclosure for future verifications
For Developers
Integrate privacy-preserving verification into your application with our new Identity API. Request only the attributes you need, and we'll handle the cryptographic verification.
Read the documentation →Looking Ahead
This is just the beginning. We're working on expanding selective disclosure to support more use cases, including verifiable credentials that can be used across different platforms while maintaining your privacy.
We believe that proving your identity shouldn't mean sacrificing your privacy. With selective disclosure, you can verify who you are while keeping your personal information personal.