Resignation at ID2020 Raises Doubts About Blockchain, Immunity Passes

A member of the ID2020 Alliance, which aims to bring digital identities to billions of people, has resigned over the organization's direction on digital immunity passes and COVID-19.In her resignation email Friday, Elizabeth Renieris cited ID2020's opacity, "Techno-solutionism," and corporate influence along with the risks of applying blockchain to immunity passes.

Her concerns about the technology, which highlight the tradeoffs between health and privacy during the pandemic, are spelled out in a white paper published in mid-May. She says the introduction of immunity passes could interfere with people's privacy, freedom of association, assembly, and movement.

"Blockchain-enabled 'immunity certificates' or 'immunity passports' for COVID-19, if implemented by public authorities, would have serious consequences for our fundamental human rights and civil liberties," she writes.

Traditionally, development of antibodies after a disease offers some level of immunity, though scientists are still working to sort out whether this is the case, or how long such immunity might last, when it comes to COVID-19.

Potentially, immunity passports allow people to return to work and have greater freedom of movement.

In late April, the World Health Organization warned against the idea of immunity passports, and said that there was "No evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection." But countries such as Chile said they would move ahead with such passes, despite the WHO's warning.

ID2020 published a white paper in April urging policymakers, technology providers, and civil society groups to collaborate to ensure that digital health credentials or "Immunity certificates," if implemented, are designed to protect privacy and civil liberties.

It said these are potential solutions for privacy and identity questions around immunity passes.

As CoinDesk has reported previously, a number of organizations and companies are actively exploring the idea of immunity passes based on blockchain technology.

In it, they criticize the CCI initiative that ID2020 initially touted, which proposes combining a World Wide Web Consortium standard for Verifiable Credentials with non-standard decentralized identifiers and DLT. The architecture is a product of premature standardization, experimental technologies, and speculative requirements, the authors argue, questioning whether these solutions can support such a critical role in public safety as immunity passes.