The Mask-Off Moment for Digital Identity

Despite decades of cryptography, security practice, and best practice deployment, digital identity remains the weakest link in systems design because its core terms stay vague while its consequences are concrete. What does it actually take to assemble a digital identity? What do different implementations share, even when they claim to be radically different? And what happens when those definitions are left elastic enough to serve whoever holds power? "The mask-off moment" tracks the convergence of capability (biometrics, sensors, AI triage, mass digitisation), institutional incentives (risk scoring, eligibility gates, compliance automation), and political will. The result is an emerging form of bureaucratic violence we are not prepared to name, much less govern. This talk traces how digital identity became weapon-ready through optimistic framing and opportunistic ambiguity, then offers a concrete frame to interrogate any proposal: what it will do on its best day, what it will do on its worst day, and which parts of the system will be impossible to “add accountability to later.” The intended audience is policymakers, technologists, designers, and civil-society people who are tired of vague promises and want a usable model that survives contact with reality.