No open, privacy-preserving attribute-verification infrastructure independent of the state digital ID

OSA age-assurance duties (from July 2025) pushed millions of users through proprietary age-verification providers, and the government's digital ID consultation (closed June 2026, with a People's Panel concluding 21 June 2026) proposes a state wallet: voluntary for citizens, but with digital right-to-work checks planned to be mandatory from 2029. The DIATF trust framework certifies providers (e.g. Yoti) but does not mandate unlinkability or selective disclosure, and no open-source, zero-knowledge attribute-proof standard exists that UK services can freely adopt. ORG and Big Brother Watch critique; nobody builds the alternative.

Identity checks are becoming ubiquitous: age, work, services. Without privacy-preserving rails, each new check adds surveillance infrastructure and single points of failure. An open selective-disclosure standard is the difference between proving 'over 18' and handing over a passport.

An open, DIATF-certified selective-disclosure credential standard (ZK proofs of age/right-to-work) with a funded open-source reference implementation, mandated as an accepted option in OSA age-assurance guidance and the digital ID scheme.

// Build now: First artefact: open-source selective-disclosure spec and reference implementation; DIATF certification and Ofcom mandate are the state-led end-state.

Ubiquitous identity checks are hardening into surveillance rails, nobody builds the open alternative, and the state wallet's architecture is being decided right now before unlinkability can be baked in.