Karl A L Smith

human knowledge belongs to the world

identity management

Why Is My Identity Stored Everywhere Except With Me?

Every few weeks another organisation asks me to prove who I am. My bank knows. My employer knows. My insurer knows. My airline knows. Government departments know. Countless websites know. The obvious question is: Why is my identity stored in…

Why Am I Expected to Trust Everyone?

Every person knows this feeling. You book a holiday. You open a bank account. You use a mobile app. You join a loyalty programme. You visit a website. Each interaction comes with an invisible transaction. Your information in exchange for…

How Context Collapse Changed My Thinking About All Me

When I started designing All Me in 2023, I believed the primary problem I was trying to solve was privacy. At the time, my focus was on creating a safer digital environment for people. The concerns were familiar ones: surveillance-based…