The Mask-Off Moment for Digital Identity

Digital identity systems are fragile and enable exploitation, exclusion and social engineering, and their architects cannot claim ignorance, according to Cade Diehm of New Design Congress. Diehm cites Estonia, where fraud cases rose 25% year-on-year in 2023 with losses of €21.5 million, despite a 2014 claim by Helar Laasik that there had been no fraud in 12 years. He also points to a US national citizenship database unveiled by DOGE in late June 2025, built with DHS and Palantir, and to digital identity's role in mass deportation, Israeli military targeting and the war in Ukraine.