Personr

Personr is a proposed framework and open specification for representing and exchanging personal identity and preference data across digital services. It is designed to give individuals more control over what information is shared and with whom, while supporting interoperability with existing identity systems. The concept blends ideas from self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, and privacy-by-design practices to create portable, user-centric profiles.

Origin and scope: The term was introduced in academic and industry discussions about personal data portability and cross-application identity. Proponents describe Personr as an abstraction rather than a single product: a standard data model and set of policies that can be implemented by apps, wallets, and service providers to enable consent-based data sharing, granular access control, and auditability.

Technical overview: A Personr profile comprises attributes, consent rules, and verifiable attestations. It supports selective disclosure so users can reveal only necessary attributes. The framework references decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials (VCs) for trust and portability, while maintaining privacy through cryptographic proofs and consent logs. Implementations may vary in how they store data (local devices, cloud backups, or hybrid solutions) and how they authorize access to attributes.

Reception and status: As a concept, Personr has influenced discussions about data sovereignty and portability, but it remains decentralized and non-mandatory. Critics point to governance challenges, potential fragmentation, and the complexity of achieving true interoperability across platforms. Adoption hinges on clear standards, robust privacy protections, and alignment with legal frameworks for data rights.

See also: Self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers, data portability, privacy-by-design.