Note to self: Build a decentralized alternative.
#nostr #safebox
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sites/bartlett/files/2025-10/The%20DigiLocker%20Story.pdf
DigiLocker used to be very shitty. When I started using it (before I found Bitcoin), you could open the app to show your driver's license or Aadhar card etc to the cops, and they could verify the authenticity of it, but the app won't work most of the time, so even they would only accept a physical copy
Now with it's OAuth like flow, it's actually useful for sharing your KYC info with apps that support it, without revealing your actual documents. But now I have no use for it anymore
Yeah, I read the case study and realized I am doing the same thing with #nostr #safebox .
Currently discussing with an academic who thinks that DigiLocker is the best thing ever.
I am very keen to learn more of your on-ground-experience.
Once I am free a bit, I will type out the different experiences I had using it
Excellent. I’d love to collaborate with you on this. My wife and I were in India earlier this year (Rajasthan) and got a good on-the-ground feeling for what’s needed. I used #safebox to keep my field notes while travelling.
Interesting, in Poland we have a mobile app called mObywatel ("mobile citizen") which keeps various forms of identity documents and it's been working for ~10 years now, pretty stable and usable. The app is hooked to gov registers, so you can do much more with it than just "show id to cops", it offers various government services. There's several levels of identity - the lowest is keep in an online profile and offers low-security functions such as OAuth log on into various e-gov and business services. At the same it's always the user who has to knowingly accept which personal details he or she shares with the other party (name, surname, DOB, others etc). There's also physical id card that contains proper hardware private key and this one can be used for placing high security electronic signature under official documents - for this one the app is merely a NFC proxy, the key never leaves the card.
