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SpruceID Blog

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

Who Sent This Agent? The Missing Identity Layer for AI Agents
Digital Identity

Who Sent This Agent? The Missing Identity Layer for AI Agents

As AI agents take on more consequential actions, they need a way to prove who authorized them and what they’re allowed to do. In this post, we explore an identity model that preserves accountability without creating a new surveillance layer.
Medicaid and SNAP Need Different Rules, Not Separate Verification Infrastructure
Digital Transformation

Medicaid and SNAP Need Different Rules, Not Separate Verification Infrastructure

As states implement HR1, Medicaid and SNAP can share verification infrastructure without sharing eligibility rules, reducing duplicate verification while preserving privacy and user control.
What Is State-Endorsed Digital Identity (SEDI)?
Digital Identity

What Is State-Endorsed Digital Identity (SEDI)?

State-Endorsed Digital Identity (SEDI) is a rights-first approach to trusted digital identity, pioneered in Utah and gaining interest across states. In this post, we explain what SEDI is, the rights at its center, and our interpretation of how an endorsement framework can work in practice.
Digital Identity Is Becoming Policy Infrastructure

Digital Identity Is Becoming Policy Infrastructure

Digital identity is becoming core policy infrastructure. Across benefits, financial regulation, privacy, and elections, better verification can strengthen trust while reducing unnecessary data collection and giving people greater control over their information.
Medicaid Work Requirements Are a Verification Infrastructure Challenge

Medicaid Work Requirements Are a Verification Infrastructure Challenge

Medicaid’s new community engagement requirements expose a broader challenge for digital government: how to verify facts across fragmented systems. A better model combines data-first verification with portable, privacy-preserving, standards-based digital evidence.
Recommendations to CMS on Medicaid Verification

Recommendations to CMS on Medicaid Verification

SpruceID submitted comments to CMS on implementing new Medicaid community engagement requirements. Our recommendations focus on maximizing ex parte verification, expanding reliable evidence options, and keeping digital pathways voluntary, interoperable, and privacy-preserving.
What Is Device Binding, and How Does It Keep a Stolen Digital ID From Being Reused?
Digital Identity

What Is Device Binding, and How Does It Keep a Stolen Digital ID From Being Reused?

Device binding is the cryptographic layer that turns a verifiable digital credential from something that can be copied into something that can only be used by its rightful holder.
Using a Mobile Driver's License at the Airport: How TSA Checkpoint mDL Acceptance Works
Interoperability

Using a Mobile Driver's License at the Airport: How TSA Checkpoint mDL Acceptance Works

Behind every seamless mDL experience at the airport is a chain of cryptographic trust and interoperability standards working quietly in the background.
What Is Selective Disclosure, and How Do Verifiable Digital Credentials Reveal Only What's Needed?
Digital Identity

What Is Selective Disclosure, and How Do Verifiable Digital Credentials Reveal Only What's Needed?

Selective disclosure turns identity verification from an exercise in oversharing into one of proving only what's needed.
Presenting Your Digital ID Online: How It Works
Digital Identity

Presenting Your Digital ID Online: How It Works

The same privacy and trust principles that make verifiable digital credentials work in person also need to extend to online interactions. Here, we walk through some of the infrastructure that enables that experience.
What Is Public Key Infrastructure and Why Does It Matter for Government Digital Services?
Digital Identity

What Is Public Key Infrastructure and Why Does It Matter for Government Digital Services?

Every time a mobile driver’s license is verified in seconds, it’s PKI doing the invisible work of turning cryptographic keys into trusted digital identity.
What Makes a Passkey Different from a Password?
Digital Identity

What Makes a Passkey Different from a Password?

Passkeys are a modern approach to authentication that stores a cryptographic credential on your device.