Digital Identity Systems and Legal Accountability: Privacy, Security and Trust in the Digital Society

Abstract

Digital identity systems have become an important component of modern digital infrastructure, enabling individuals to authenticate themselves while accessing governmental, financial, healthcare, educational, and commercial services. The increasing adoption of biometric authentication, mobile-based identity verification, digital signatures, and decentralized identity technologies has created significant opportunities for improving convenience, security, and service delivery. At the same time, digital identity systems generate substantial legal and technological concerns relating to privacy, data protection, identity theft, surveillance, cybersecurity, exclusion, and accountability. This article examines the technological architecture of digital identity systems and explores the principal legal challenges associated with their deployment. Particular attention is given to biometric identifiers, authentication mechanisms, identity databases, decentralized identity, data minimization, cybersecurity, and unauthorized identity use. The article argues that digital identity infrastructure should be designed around privacy, security, proportionality, and user control rather than technological efficiency alone. It proposes a rights-oriented framework based on strong authentication, encryption, decentralized storage, purpose limitation, transparent governance, independent auditing, and effective mechanisms for correcting identity-related errors. The article concludes that trustworthy digital identity requires close integration of technological security and legal accountability