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SpruceID Blog

Thoughtful perspectives on identity, interoperability, and the systems that turn public policy into usable services.

Digital Identity Without Surveillance: Understanding SEDI's No-Phone-Home Principle
Zero Trust

Digital Identity Without Surveillance: Understanding SEDI's No-Phone-Home Principle

Utah's SEDI statute prohibits architectures where the issuer can observe every credential presentation. Enforcing that requirement means choosing verification designs where the data is never generated in the first place.
What Is a Trust Framework, and How Does It Decide Who Can Issue and Verify Digital Credentials?
Interoperability

What Is a Trust Framework, and How Does It Decide Who Can Issue and Verify Digital Credentials?

The future of interoperable digital identity depends on more than shared formats and protocols, it depends on the governance layer that defines trust, accountability, and assurance.
Who Authorized This Agent to Pay?
Digital Identity

Who Authorized This Agent to Pay?

When agents initiate payments, the receiving system needs more than authentication. It needs proof of who authorized the transaction, what spending authority was granted, and whether that authority is still valid.
The SEDI Duty of Loyalty, Explained
Digital Identity

The SEDI Duty of Loyalty, Explained

SEDI's Duty of Loyalty moves beyond notice and consent by establishing affirmative obligations toward individuals whose identity data is processed. It draws on academic proposals for fiduciary-like duties in privacy law.
Why Government Digital Transformation Projects Fail
Digital Transformation

Why Government Digital Transformation Projects Fail

Most government digital transformation projects fail not because of bad technology, but because they optimize for launch instead of completion and treat modernization as a portal project instead of an infrastructure investment.
What Is a Customer Identification Program (CIP), and How Do Digital Credentials Change It?
Zero Trust

What Is a Customer Identification Program (CIP), and How Do Digital Credentials Change It?

The Customer Identification Program rule requires banks to verify customer identity at account opening. The FinCEN ruling changes what counts as acceptable evidence.
The FinCEN Ruling Proves Digital Identity Is Financial Infrastructure
Digital Identity

The FinCEN Ruling Proves Digital Identity Is Financial Infrastructure

When federal banking regulators recognize verifiable digital credentials for customer identification, digital identity stops being a government IT project and becomes financial infrastructure.
How to Design HR1 Verification Without Creating a New Identity Barrier
Digital Identity

How to Design HR1 Verification Without Creating a New Identity Barrier

Identity proofing, authentication, evidence verification, and eligibility determination are four different functions. States designing HR1 systems should separate them to protect program integrity without creating new barriers.
Zero Trust Data Exchange: Why the Data Layer Is the Real Frontier
Zero Trust

Zero Trust Data Exchange: Why the Data Layer Is the Real Frontier

Zero trust for government services means more than network segmentation. At the data layer, systems need to verify the provenance and integrity of information without trusting the network or system that delivered it.
Why States Are Paying Attention to SEDI
Digital Identity

Why States Are Paying Attention to SEDI

The central digital identity question for states is shifting from whether residents can prove who they are online to what rules should govern the identity ecosystem itself. Utah's SEDI framework offers one answer.
What’s the Difference Between a Digital Wallet and a Digital Credential?
Digital Identity

What’s the Difference Between a Digital Wallet and a Digital Credential?

Digital credentials prove facts, digital wallets protect and share them. Keeping those roles separate is what makes secure, interoperable identity possible.
Can a Bank Actually Verify a Mobile Driver's License?
Interoperability

Can a Bank Actually Verify a Mobile Driver's License?

The FinCEN ruling says banks can accept digital credentials. But accepting is not the same as verifying. Most banks lack the cryptographic infrastructure to validate what they receive.