Edentity

In 2002 the Office of National Statistics was commissioned by HM Treasury to study ways in which basic personal data - in particular name and contact details - could be shared between service delivery organisations in the public sector. The project was called the Citizen Information Project (CIP), and was expected to reduce costs, improve effectiveness, and enhance convenience for the individual.

One of the issues considered by CIP was how the implementation of a consent-based, or citizen-mediated, infrastructure for data sharing could fit with an integrated, or centrally managed, set of contact details for core public services. Citizen-mediated infrastructures allow an individual to give direct and explicit permission for data sharing between organisations, and can be used for many different types of data, not only contact data.

Edentity began working with CIP in 2004, and provided occassional advice on this question of striking the right balance between integration and citizen-mediation. The work culminated in the drafting of a substantive paper on the subject, and its presentation at a cross-departmental seminar.

Paul Allin, the leader of the CIP, commented: "Edentity has developed a deep understanding of the potential of citizen-mediated architectures, and of the way in which they can enable data sharing - and at the same time protect privacy - by giving the individual direct control over who sees what and when. The company has also taken the time to think through the business and organisational implications, and to develop a coherent route-map for its implementation as infrastructure, potentially across both public and private sectors."

Sadly, CIP never progressed beyond feasibility stage: the project ran in parallel to the Home Office Identity Card Project and, in a competition for limited attention and resources, came second.

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