identsust

Identsust is a theoretical framework in the field of digital identity studies that describes a sustainable approach to managing personal identifiers across online services. The term combines elements of identity management with the notion of enduring compatibility and user-centric control, emphasizing long-term usability, privacy, and portability of identifiers rather than short-term convenience.

Origin and etymology: The term was introduced in scholarly articles in the early 2010s by researchers in information ethics and computer science who sought to address the fragility of identifiers across platforms. It arose from discussions about how identities survive platform changes, mergers, and policy shifts.

Core concepts: Identsust posits a set of durable identifiers linked to a user across service boundaries via contextual consent and revocable bindings. It advocates data minimization, revocability of identifiers, and interoperable governance mechanisms. It situates itself within the broader discourse on self-sovereign identity, federated identity, and privacy-preserving technologies, and it favors cryptographic bindings, such as verifiable credentials, that allow portable trust without exposing unnecessary data.

Implementation and usage: In practice, identsust guides system design toward persistent identity constructs that survive platform migrations, while enabling users to control who sees what. It has informed discussions on policy and standardization, particularly around portability, consent management, and cross-provider authentication.

Reception and critique: Critics argue that the framework may introduce complexity and hinder interoperability if not adopted by common standards; supporters view it as a clarifying lens to examine long-term identity maintenance, emphasizing user rights and data stewardship.

Relation to related concepts: Related topics include self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers, privacy-preserving authentication, and data minimization.