SSI has become a major technology theme for governments ranging from the United States, Canada, Korea, and Australia to New Zealand. In the previous chapter, two of the leading SSI pioneers in Canada explained how the Canadian government is approaching SSI. In this chapter, legal expert Dr. Ignacio Alamillo-Domingo shares the evolution of digital identity in the European Union to explain how all paths in Europe lead to SSI. Dr. Alamillo-Domingo is a legal expert in the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure project who is involved in standardization activities at ISO/TC307, CEN-CLC/JTC19, and ETSI TC ESI. He has a PhD in public law about the eIDAS.
Creating trust in internet transactions is one of the primary requirements for the proper functioning of the Information Society and—from the European Union (EU) perspective—of the internal European market. As chapter 1 explained, the initial internet architecture designed in the 1960s and 1970s did not prioritize security. Achieving an environment in which people feel safe and confident is necessary to promote the adoption of digital identity.
EU Regulation No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council of July 23, 2014 on Electronic Identification, Authentication, and Trust Services (eIDAS) for the internal market was an important and transformative milestone in the legal regulation of the assurances of juridical traffic performed electronically [1].