0:00 I'm the director of Utah's Office of Data Privacy located in the Department of
0:04 Government Operations. I want to thank the Herbert Institute of Public Policy, the
0:10 Department of Government Operations, and the Utah Legislature for all helping to
0:14 host this event and also to UVU for allowing us to use their facilities. I
0:21 also want to thank UVU. We had many employees and students and interns help to
0:26 bring this event together for the last few months and so we couldn't do this without
0:30 the work that they've been putting in. And I want to thank all of you for coming to
0:36 Utah to participate in this event. We put a lot of thought into how would we
0:41 actually host an event to cause change. And we thought about just doing a virtual
0:46 event and we knew that it's going to take a lot of passion and a lot of work to pull
0:51 off what we're going to be proposing today. So it was important to see who can
0:56 we get to come in person that cares the most about it to help us build what we are
1:01 going to be proposing. So I thank all of you for coming. Those from states, we have
1:06 12 states represented. Those from academia, those from executive branch
1:13 agencies, those from legislators. I think we have more than a dozen companies
1:17 represented. We have concerned citizens. We have private interest groups. We have
1:21 the national ACLU. So we have the start of what I think is going to be a really great
1:27 consortium.
1:32 Now, the purpose of today is simple. We invited you all to come here to one,
1:39 receive an education about a very complex topic, is digital identity. The second
1:46 reason we've invited you is to help you understand the problem and what we think
1:51 is a really big opportunity for America to lead out. And the third and final reason
1:57 that we've invited you here today is to actually invite you to join the SEDI
2:02 consortium, the state-endorsed digital identity consortium, so that we can move
2:06 forward and work together on what we think is a big opportunity for America. Now, I
2:14 am an optimist by nature and I'm very optimistic about digital identity if we do
2:20 it right. And I believe that we can build technology that reflects American values,
2:26 that protects freedoms and strengthens families and builds trust in the digital
2:30 world. But I am also a realist about why this effort is needed. I am very concerned
2:38 about some of what I see happening not just in the United States, but what is
2:43 happening around the world. There are many of you in this room that have expressed
2:47 those same concerns. That is why Representative Cutler and Senator
2:51 Kullimore sponsored Senate Bill 260 this last session, the first state-endorsed
2:56 digital identity bill in the and the nation to begin addressing these concerns.
3:00 So I want to share with you some of our concerns. I am concerned for my kids and
3:07 your kids who can engage online and video games and social media and they do not
3:13 know and we do not know if the people they are engaging with are actually who they
3:19 say they are. I am concerned for my and your elderly parents and grandparents who
3:26 continue to be taken advantage of by individuals pretending to be family
3:31 members in distress. I am concerned for young men facing exploitation and
3:40 sextortion online. This is one of the fastest growing crimes in America and in
3:46 Utah facing our young men. They are being driven to despair and even suicide in a
3:52 world where anonymity and manipulation coexist without protection. I am concerned
3:58 that fraud enabled by identity theft and impersonation is now costing the United
4:05 States hundreds of billions of dollars a year. I am concerned that algorithms based
4:12 on profiling and scoring are influencing our behavior and quietly shaping the
4:18 concept of even freedom and free agency. I am concerned that the free market is being
4:25 distorted, that those who control personal data are facilitating monopolistic
4:30 behavior that maximizes exploitation of individuals for profit instead of driving
4:38 a free market based off of competition and best prices. I am concerned that nation
4:46 state attacks on future digital identity systems will occur and we have to assume
4:51 digital identity will be compromised. I am concerned that government-sponsored
4:58 digital identity systems both in the United States and around the world have
5:03 been created that are capable of tracking, surveilling, and controlling. I am
5:10 concerned that governments, corporations, and technologists are rushing to create
5:15 digital identity systems that are compulsory and are required and that these
5:21 are being created without the comprehensive governance its frameworks
5:24 and protections needed to protect individual rights. And I am most concerned
5:32 that in democracies around the world, digital identity systems are being
5:37 designed and implemented in ways contrary to the first principles of America's
5:42 founding. And that is that individuals have individual inalienable rights that
5:47 they are endowed with that is innate to them, including identity. Government does
5:53 not give identity. Government does not create identity. And any identity system
5:59 built on the premise that government is giving it to you means that they can also
6:03 take it away, which is in opposition to this founding principle. So the truth is
6:10 there is no trust in the digital world today. We don't know who or what is real.
6:16 We do not know. You do not control your digital identity. Usernames, passwords,
6:24 even mobile driver's license can be taken away. They can be compromised. There is
6:29 currently no national strategy for digital identity and we know that there are many,
6:35 both foreign and abroad, who would love to control your digital identity and
6:39 compromise it for their own gains. So the dilemma before us is that if we do
6:45 nothing, we will be left with a system created by others that do not share our
6:50 same values. But this is not the end of the story. It is the reason that we are
6:55 here. All of us in this room are in a position to influence. Some of you have
7:01 the power to create laws. Some of you have the power to create and dictate public
7:06 policy. Some of you have the power to create technology. Some of you have the
7:10 power to fund new businesses to create the solutions that we need. Some of you have
7:15 the power to create governance frameworks. And some of you have the power to create
7:19 standards. And some of you just have the power to raise your concerns and create
7:23 trouble for the rest of us, which we need. So you all have something to contribute
7:28 that is needed to create the solution necessary to address our concerns and
7:32 create a better digital identity. So there is a path a path forward by building
7:37 digital identity in a manner that prioritizes rights and dignity. This is
7:43 what state endorsed digital identity is all about. So I want you to imagine for a
7:50 minute a future. A future 10 years from now after we've put in a lot of hard work.
7:56 We need to agree today and in future summits what that work is going to be. But
8:02 a future where our fears about digital identity theft, manipulation,
8:06 impersonation, exploitation, loss of control have been replaced by trust and
8:12 authenticity. Where parents know their children are safe online. Where our
8:18 elderly are protected from scams and impersonation, where there is trust that
8:23 government is protecting your digital identity and rights above all other
8:28 interests. That is the world we need all of you to help create. So through the SEDI
8:36 consortium that we are proposing and inviting you to join today, states will
8:40 work together to define an American model for digital identity, one that protects
8:46 citizens, and instead of importing surveillance and control-based standards
8:52 and technology from abroad, we will export freedom by design, showing that privacy,
8:59 security, protection of rights and protection of individual rights and
9:05 innovation can coexist. The benefits and capabilities of SEDI will be profound. It
9:12 will provide the foundation for individuals and businesses to derive value
9:16 and utility for the free market, to create new and and innovative solutions. We know
9:22 there will be new solutions for proof of identity. There will be new solutions for
9:26 replacements of usernames and passwords. Imagine that if you don't have to worry
9:31 about your passwords being compromised. There will be new solutions for consent
9:36 and management and agreements that individuals control. There will be new
9:40 solutions for delegation, empowering families and guardians and organizations
9:45 to act safely on behalf of the vulnerable and those they serve. There will be
9:51 solutions for agentic AI where artificial intelligence operates with your explicit
9:56 authorization and not in your place, extending your agency rather than
10:01 replacing it. So many of you are probably wondering, how would we ever get from the
10:06 current state to that future state? And we do that the same way all great things are
10:12 done. And we have to do that together. We have to create a plan. We have to agree on
10:17 our values. We have to create a structure. We have to roll up our sleeves. And then,
10:23 as my teenagers and young kids like to say, we have to grind. We're going to have
10:27 to get out there and actually do the work to make it happen. And it is going to take
10:31 a long time. And under the SEDI consortium is where we can take the fruits of all
10:36 these labors that we are about to do and give them away to everyone else so that
10:40 they can follow us. We know not everybody is going to be able to do this. We don't
10:44 have all 50 states here. Not everybody has the funding, but but we are public
10:48 entities. We can create it and we can give it to them for the good of everyone. So
10:53 the work we're going to do is going to include comprehensive governance
10:56 frameworks, model legislation, resolutions, executive orders, defining
11:02 SEDI requirements, technology and policy controls, conformance programs, RFIs and
11:08 RFPs. We're going to have to do security assessments. We're going to have to do
11:11 continuous engagement with civil rights groups and watchdogs. We're going to have
11:15 to have absolute transparency and we're going to have to have absolute
11:17 transparency and we're going to have to have going to have to do much, much more
11:19 to move the digital identity market in America to align with what are going to be
11:24 the SEDI standards.
11:34 So today you are here to learn about digital identity and some of the
11:39 principles that will guide the creation of state-endorsed digital identity. You will
11:44 understand the concerns and the opportunities ahead of us and I hope you
11:48 will accept our invitation to join. But to end, I'm going to teach you just one of
11:54 the founding principles and requirements of state-endorsed digital identity. This
11:58 is the very first one that we identified when Senate Bill 260 was written. And this
12:03 is probably the most foundational and fundamental difference compared to what
12:07 you see happening in the rest of the world. Identity belongs to the person, not
12:13 to the government. The government's role is not to create or control identity, but
12:18 to endorse and protect it as a matter of public trust. SEDI recognizes it is the
12:25 role of the state to act as a trusted endorser, verifying an individual's
12:31 digital identity and then issuing an endorsed credential mathematically bound
12:38 to a digital identifier that individuals alone control. The state does not create
12:45 the individual identifier cannot revoke it. The state simply endorses that the
12:52 person is who they say they are and then provides a credential that empowers the
12:57 individual to say to the world that I am me and the world will accept it because it
13:02 has been endorsed and backed by the state. The state will have no control or ability
13:08 to surveil or to track the usage and the state cannot take away the underlying
13:14 digital identifier. The state has no role to take away anybody's digital identity.
13:22 So with that said, we have a very busy day ahead of us. This is mostly about
13:27 introductory education. This is going to be a very fast-paced style to get you
13:34 information. We'll have a couple breakouts throughout the day where you can ask
13:39 questions and you can participate and learn what it means to help define policy
13:43 and technical controls. We're going to end at the end of the with an hour-long
13:47 discussion of how can we actually move forward together as states. This morning,
13:53 the run of the show is we're going to have Ryan Hurst speak to us and educate you on
13:57 what is digital identity. We will then have Cindy George speaking to us about her
14:03 family's experience with sextortion and impersonation and the impact it has had on
14:08 them through their son's suicide. We'll then have a legislative panel of Senator
14:13 Kullimore, Representative Cutler, Representative Chevrier, and
14:16 Representative Shepherd to discuss with you the importance of this work, why they
14:20 are supporting it, and why you should be a part of the consortium. We'll then hear
14:24 from Daniel Hardman who will teach us about the current lay of the digital
14:28 identity market. Phil Windley will explain why Utah is the first state to formally
14:34 take the decentralized or first-person identity approach. And Joe Jackson will
14:39 teach you why we are moving forward with backward compatibility to help the entire
14:44 market move forward. So with that, Ryan, I'll invite you to come up. Thank you.