Figure 17.1: (Source:

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-

concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-

information/pi_2019-11-14_privacy_0-02-2/)

So, how has personal data associated with digital identity been

handled so far? Let’s find what are the different identity patterns that

we have come across so far and what’s there for us in the near

future.

17.2 Evolution of Digital Identity

Since the Internet’s inception a few decades ago, the user

interaction over Internet always required user’s digital representation

and it is not error-free. Inadequate security practices have led to

huge financial and other losses in the past that we already discussed

in the previous chapter. Hence, from time-to-time, different

architectures have been introduced in the market that are always

trying to improve by getting rid of the vulnerabilities and adding more

features in the process. As we are moving towards tremendous

growth of the “Internet of Things”, please expect many more models

to come in the days to come. In Figure 17.2, you can see the

different identity models over a span of a few decades, as shown as

follows: