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Identify yourself! What is it exactly that identifies you, that makes you unique amongst all others? To identify means to perceive or state the identity of something or someone. And there is no discussion about the meaning of ‘identity’. Identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, or expressions that characterise a person or a group. In this definition we can recognise some elements that refer to physical traits, but the majority within this set relates to psychological, mental and emotional aspects of the individual. Now I can understand why an individual can be ‘identified’, can be seen as a ‘unique’ person, in the way that particular traits and aspects of being a human combine to create a specific set of qualities, beliefs, personal traits that characterises that individual.

Identity emerges during childhood as children start to comprehend their self-concept, and it remains a consistent aspect throughout different stages of life. In order for someone to be recognised as a specific ‘identity’, the individual needs to have developed those qualities, beliefs and personal traits and, importantly, to have become aware of them. This is a personal development that takes a bit of time in a person’s life, which means that the identity of a person shows up in adulthood. A child, or even a teenager, is an identity in the making. An identity eventually emerges as a result of interactions between the inner makeup of the individual and influences from the environment. Identity is shaped by social and cultural factors and how others perceive and acknowledge these characteristics in a person. These outside factors are not the identity itself! They are influencing factors that may help to shape the identity. Two different things. However, we have to acknowledge that in our society a split in what constitutes an identity has manifested. What we have talked about so far, and what is the basic definition and the basic understanding of the term, has now been limited to the personal identity to make room for a collective identity, a need to identify an individual as an essential part of a group. It may sound innocent enough to you, but let’s take a look at the consequences of such an introduction.

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To identify someone is done by using or stating specific characteristics that sets that individual apart from the rest. The entire purpose of identification is to separate the one item or person from the rest, from the crowd, from its surroundings. It is all about the person being different from the collective in some ways, in some aspects. The person and the surrounding collective are not the same. So, what the hell is a ‘collective identity’ then, and what is its purpose?

We’ll get to that, but first it is useful to put our attention to another aspect that is closely related to identity. What does it mean to identify as something? It is ​‘to consciously recognise or decide that you belong to a particular category’. In other words, it is an individual’s personal choice to want to identify with others, with a specific group of people who have a set of values and characteristics in common. Hence, I can identify as a Catholic when I consider myself to have the same outlook on life as put forward by the Catholic Church. From this, you can already see that baptising babies into the Catholic Church community is a manipulative act whereby the individual is now forced to belong to this specific collective. It no longer is a free choice. One could say that a collective identity has been put upon the unsuspecting individual. It should be a personal, internal recognition of being a member of a group and having someone else make that decision means that you attain a compulsory membership. You are being forced to identify as a member of such a group.

An individual may decide to be part of a collective identity, to belong to a group. These could range from relatively small cliques and gangs, to sports fans and celebrity devotees, to labourers and occupational groupings, However, dividing lines get easily blurred. One may decide to study medicine or law, but in order to practise medicine or law one has to become a member of a specific society, like it or not. Now one is part of the collective identity of doctors or lawyers. So maybe we ought to be a little careful when we talk about a collective identity as it being a joint venture of individuals with the same characteristics who have chosen to join forces. A collective identity is not necessarily the result of a voluntary collective based on shared characteristics and traits. How the collective is being formed, maintained and supported could well be coercive, or even worse forcefully implemented.

Collective identity is an abstract category which encompasses narrowly definable concepts such as group identity, cultural identity, or regional identity, and historically specific types of community formation and sociation such as clans, tribes, peoples, nations, or ethnic minorities, including socio-structural concepts such as social status and class as well as political parties and movements. Each of these groups will operate on rules that are invented and enforced by a small group of people, who are in charge of the collective. Whether this ruling faction takes on the format of a dictatorship or is modelled on democratic rules doesn’t change the fact that the individual joining the group has to identify as the prescribed identity. It is the individual who has to comply with the group, not the group who is a reflection of the identity of its members. For instance, if you belong to a political party you will have to follow the reasoning and the philosophy of the party.

The question of who you are is, within society, very relevant. The development of the ‘trusted and secure’ personal identification documents began with passports and has continued as social changes made IDs more essential. However, that hasn’t always been the case. Personal Identification Documents (IDs) and the societal need for ‘trusted’ identification by the public is a relatively new social phenomenon. In 1900, most people did not need or have any IDs until passports, with a photograph of the individual, became mandatory when Great Britain entered World War I in 1914. In the U.S., the state-issued driver's license is probably the only trusted ID in one's wallet today, but they became ‘trusted and secure’ documents only recently with the requirement for real ID. With the first photo driver's license issued by the State of Colorado in 1959, it took until 1984 for the last state (New York, 25 years later) to comply. As a direct result of 9/11, where terrorists used fake driver's licenses to board planes, Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005 to make all state-issued driver's licenses more trusted, uniform, and tamper-resistant, what is now called the Enhanced Driver's License with non-drivers being issued Enhanced Identification Cards. In general, a piece of ‘trusted’ paper is identifying an individual as that specific person. The piece of paper holds an image of the face of the person (physical characteristics), a name (first name and the name of the family the person belongs to), together with other information which may be the date of birth, the place of birth, and links to other documents, such as for instance a social security number. When we compare this way of identification with the definition of identification we notice that the photograph of the face is one small part of the appearance of that person. The other elements of identification, as there are the set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, or expressions, are lacking. It is governments that have a need to identify an individual, and their need is very specific. The content of the answer to the question ‘who are you?’ is very different for a government than it is for individuals within society.

Historically, governments have operated a variety of ID systems to serve this and other purposes. Primarily, this includes foundational ID systems, such as civil registers, national IDs and population registers, which are created to provide identification to the general population for a wide variety of transactions. Governments create ID systems to register every citizen as a member of ‘their’ society and they implement laws with regards to these systems and the implications of belonging to their society. An ID system can be considered legal ID system to the extent that it enables a person to prove who they are using credentials recognised by law, a ruling made by the rulers of that specific society. In addition, governments have often created a variety of functional ID systems to manage identification, authentication, and authorization for specific sectors or use-cases, such as voting, taxation, social protection, travel, and more. Legal identity is defined as the basic characteristics of an individual’s identity. e.g. name, sex, place and date of birth conferred through registration and the issuance of a certificate by an authorised civil registration authority following the occurrence of birth. Hence, from birth the ruling power registers an individual as belonging to ‘them’, to ‘their’ group. They decide how that individual is to be ‘identified’, how he or she should be known within society. Two major consequences of this procedure we should take note of. One is the fact that this identity is given to the person by the authority. This identity is not based on a set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, or expressions that characterise a person. The second important fact to note is that this identity is fixed for life and cannot be allowed to develop in the way that an individual develops into a specific identity as he or she becomes a unique human specimen. The authority decides your identity on the basis of documentation, rather than on characteristics, beliefs and personal traits. The authority decides who you are.

By creating a register of unique, verified identities, a foundational ID system can provide the basis for secure identity verification for government and private-sector users. Public and private sector services are increasingly offered online, creating a growing need for secure digital authentication. So it becomes clear that the identity issued by the government is also a requirement for the private sector. Private companies, for their own reasons, want to have access to the identification data the government has attached to your person. At the same time, threats to digital privacy have become apparent, with people increasingly worried about profiling and surveillance. Sharing this personal data, which belongs to the government, with private companies and private entities seems an odd thing to do. When I go to a farm I can buy eggs without the farmer wanting or needing to know where I was born. When I employ a skilled worker to fix the leak in my roof, I do not need to know whether or not he is married or even what his name is. Why does a private company, such as a bank or a social platform, or services such as signing private contracts, require the data that the government identifies me with?

During the last 10 years, government agencies have been providing more and more services online. Citizens are filing and paying taxes, obtaining licenses, and applying for benefits. But for all the advantages to the government – no longer having to provide physical presence in governmental offices – the expansion of digitally delivered services also has provided more and more opportunities for fraud, especially digital identity fraud. Fraudsters are discovering and capitalising on weak spots in government IT systems, resulting in data breach exploitation and illicitly obtained benefits. In short, government agencies need to verify users of their digital services before they can get in and cause trouble. This will require them to consider more rigorous and more up-to-date verification strategies, such as biometrics and device identification. In other words, they now require more physical parameters (biometrics like fingerprints and iris patterns) and an identification of the electronic devices you are using, linking a machine to a person. Now they link the document identification to the physical identification and to the personal machine identification in the name of knowing who you are. Are you being protected by this development in identification methods?

It seems quite easy to steal the artificial identity the authority has serviced me with, while it is impossible for any other human being to become ‘me’, to steal my real personal identity.

Strengthening identity verification strategies at the front end provides several advantages. This approach can keep government entities from having to investigate fraud after the fact and attempt to claw back illicitly gained benefits and funds. Shifting from ‘pay-and-chase’ to prevent-and-detect can save government entities precious resources of money and staff time. Hence, these stringent verification methods are needed by the government, not by the citizens. People still have the option to get to know each other, to personally identify another human being and interact on a personal basis within a community of living souls, each of those being identifiable on site. Moving government services online requires two capabilities: departments must be able to share and match data on individuals, as well as addressing any discrepancies between their datasets. Governments are telling us that they will share data, that they will compare data. They feel a need to restrict individuals in the way they represent themselves towards government institutions. Governments are now taking the stance that individuals cheat on them, but towards the population it is worded differently.

“This is about convenience. About modernisation. About bringing the nation into the digital age. With a single, secure digital identity, citizens will be able to access healthcare, banking, education, and government services more efficiently than ever before.”

The printed version, however, also reveals the following:

• Integration with ‘approved private sector partners’ is anticipated to ‘enhance user convenience and service access’.
• Biometric data will be used for identity verification and ‘ongoing security monitoring’.

In other words, the government will share the data they use to identify you as an individual with private companies. The more identification data that they require in order for them to know who you are, the more data will be spread around in the global world. Furthermore, they will continually monitor you for their own security!

In another era, it was national ID cards, touted as tools to streamline bureaucracy and to improve security. In some places, they were relatively benign; in others, they became tools to track, sort, and target minority communities. In yet another chapter, it was mass data collection by intelligence agencies, revealed not by a press conference but by leaked documents that showed how easily ‘security’ could morph into surveillance at a scale no one had imagined. The digital ID programme, according to its critics, is not just another modernisation project. It is the consolidation of identity, movement, economic life, and civic participation into a single, state-regulated channel. By making this system mandatory, the government isn’t just asking citizens to trust its intentions. It is asking them to submit to a new kind of dependency, one where identity itself becomes a subscription model you don’t control and can’t refuse. You are forced to sign up to belong to their society. You are forced to sign up to identify as belonging to them. You have become their property!

Governments started providing the individuals within the population with identities, not so that that individual and the community he or she lived in knew who they were, but simply for the benefit of the government. Knowing who everybody is gives them an opportunity to select how these individuals are going to be treated, who is allowed to benefit from what. After the benefitting from comes the obligation to. Individuals will be identified in order to become obliged to support the government, be it who is obliged to pay what kind of taxes or who is allowed to do a specific job and to what rules some individuals have to submit to. Identification allows more government control. The more aspects of one’s life that are becoming part of this identification process the wider the scope for control. When I pay for goods and services in cash the government cannot know on what items I, as an individual, spend the money. When all the transactions I, as an individual, make are digital the government knows exactly what choices I make. The argument ‘what difference does it make? I have nothing to hide’ becomes irrelevant when the government is going to punish me for buying what they determine to be unhealthy food or inappropriate items. When via the identity methods used, the government can survey my behaviour and decide it to be inappropriate for what they want their citizens to do, it is no longer about having or not having something to hide. It is about removing my personal choices, my personal freedom.

Identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, or expressions that characterise a person or a group.

• Personal identity: a set of characteristics that sets an individual apart from others;
• Group identity: a set of characteristics that sets a group apart from others/

There are two ways to form such a group: a natural way and an artificial way. In the natural way we see that a number of people clearly share common characteristics. These may be ethnicity, where they share a common ancestral background, or it may be that living conditions have created common characteristics, such as highland people or seafaring people. Such characteristics have occurred naturally. This is different from groups formed by drawing dividing lines through the landscape, giving people within a specific area a ‘national’ identity. Identities given to a group of people who share the same profession, but nothing else, is artificially, not naturally, corralling people together. Somebody, as it isn’t nature doing this, is organising it and maintaining it. Someone is making up rules, outside of nature, to join people together who have no natural affinity. These rules will keep individuals locked into the group. In order to know who is in and who is out, one needs physical proof to link the individual to the group, such as ID cards or specific statutes.

All artificial identities are group identities. No individual can be identified by any means used by an authority to create an artificial group identity. My ID card doesn’t tell you who I am. It tells you to which group I have been assigned. However, when you get to know me, you can become aware of what natural groups my characteristics are aligned with, such as Caucasian male, elderly, visually impaired, but also peace loving with an analytical mind. These characteristics have not been imposed upon me. I developed those throughout my life.

My national identity separates me from other people who even speak the same language, live very similar lives and believe in the same things. My professional identity separates me from the people who live next door. My social identity separates me from other people in the community who belong to ‘a different class’. A classless society is a social structure in which no distinct social classes or hierarchies exist, aiming for complete social and economic equality among all individuals. I don’t know of any society in which everybody has the same lifestyle and the same opportunities. In fact, that would also be an artificial structure as in nature everything is divided into groups and categories based on ability, skills and power. Nature is no classless society!

Dividing people into groups based on the skills, on the ability and the natural characteristics of the individuals will provide the individuals with the best opportunities to live the life that is most suited to each one. It isn’t about being equal. It is about being allowed to be oneself. In an artificial identity group, everyone has to submit to the rules that govern the group, set out by the organiser of the group, and nobody is allowed to be different. In a natural collective identity group, such as fishing communities, an individual can still decide to be different, to use an unusual way of fishing or to go out to sea at unusual times. A natural group is not restrictive. It is supportive to all. An artificial group is supportive as long as the individual remains within the restricted area.

An artificial identity is given to an individual by an authority that finds strength in numbers. An artificial identity is always a group identity and doesn’t define an individual. It doesn’t tell us who you are.

A personal identity is an expression of your natural self, which is a combination of hereditary traits and developed characteristics over time. It is yours, and yours only. It tells us who you are.

Knowing who you are allows your surroundings, your human environment, the community you live in, to provide space and time for you to develop your life, thereby contributing to the wellbeing of yourself and of the community. It is, in fact, the driving force of natural evolution, of the natural learning process of humanity.

Artificially providing an individual with a collective identity, and restricting that individual to simply be the same as the other ‘members’ of the group, stops natural growth and evolution. Movement is created by the tension between two or more different fields of pressure. Movement is change, is evolution. Forcing everything to be the same stops movement, stops evolution, stops life.

Artificial identity serves the authority who provides the identity. Natural identity, your personal identity, serves you and the community you naturally belong to. Recognising who somebody is, what someone’s qualities, beliefs and personality traits are, is essential in finding the ‘right’ place for the individual within that community.

Artificial identity will eventually wipe out personal identity, will equalise diversity and finish human life.

Who are you?

How would you like to be identified?

Acknowledgement Citation

This article was originally published online at  https://www.activehealthcare.co.uk/literature/mind-spirit/276-who-are-you