Globally Unique Personal Identifier (GUPI)

Proposed mechanism solves the problem of giving unique identification code to the World Population until the end of times.

Developed before the Internet Age, many personal identification number systems contain personal information (sex and birth date) and are limited by scope. Today these codes are widely used in government and private information systems as primary keys and login credential components. 

To give Globally Unique Identifiers to the World population the Collision Avoidance Mechanism should be implemented. Existing random numbers based GUID v4 provides total 2^122, or 5.3x10^36 unique combinations, but does not have Collision Detection or Verification methods.

The solution would be to store GUID-s given to people in a Distributed Ledger. It is out of the scope of this idea whether to use some of the existing cryptocurrency ledgers or create and propagated a new ledger for this solution only. 

Storing personal GUID-s in a distributed ledger would allow to give unique ID codes to the World population in a distributed fashion with only prerequisite to have on-line connection in the establishments of ID issuing (border crossings, hospitals, police stations, embassies, etc.).

In national databases the GUID-s can be easily associated to the existing identification codes and used concurrently as reference keys. Gradually the existing codes can be replaced.

Combining two mature technologies to solve an ever existing and rising problem on a Global Scale.

Many existing national personal identification schemas contain birth dates and gender information limiting the public use of these ID codes. Such schemas are deployed in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and many other countries.

Can be used directly and concurrently with existing codes in digital identification systems. The mapping of Globally Unique codes to the national codes can be easily implemented in national databases. In Estonia, for example, Population Register is the primary database linking basic residents personal data to the Personal Identification Code.

The solution does not require any additional activity from user side. 

Giving unique identifiers to the whole World population will enable profound interoperability of national information systems and services. National digital services could be provided and consumed cross-border.

The solution expects that national identity providing establishments have on-line access to the Distributed Ledger environment. For end users, once the identification number has issued, there no need for internet connection.

Provided, the existing ecosystem of Distributed Ledgers and cryptocurrencies is on the rise, the deployment of Globally Unique Personal Identifiers (GUPI) can be started with minimal effort. The idea is to agree in the GUPI schema between small number of digitally advanced countries (Estonia and Finland for example) and gradually make the deployment global.

I am working as a Systems Architect in IT and Development Centre (SMIT), Ministry of Interior, Estonia. Currently analyzing the existing Population Register and the future development of biometric identity management. Creating new logical data model for e-Government domain.

As a government IT development organization, we have full systems development and maintenance capabilities.

As a government organization we operate on taxpayers and European funding. No need for revenue, the only goal is to promote public safety and good.

We have analyzed the provided idea in our organization and recognized that the solutions  scope exceeds national boundaries.  To be beneficial to the World, global identity management community should be incorporated. 

The key barrier is international acceptance. There is no point in implementing the idea in one country only.