ID2020 is an American

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nongovernmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

which advocates for digital ID for the billion undocumented people worldwide and under-served groups like

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. Clive Smith succeeded founder Dakota Gruener as executive director in 2022. The NGO was relatively unknown before being publicized because of

misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic False information, including intentional disinformation and conspiracy theories, about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messagi ...

by conspiracy theorists.

History

ID2020 was founded by John Edge on June 27, 2014, after being inspired by a screening of

Meena Meena () is a tribe from northern and western India which is sometimes considered a sub-group of the Bhil community. It used to be claimed they speak Mina language, a Spurious languages, spurious language. Its name is also transliterated as ' ...

. On August 10, 2015, Dr. Alicia Carmona published a blog post on

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seeking input from her colleagues with examples where "identification/identity is at the core of a community problem." She noted that a new non-profit organization called Identification 2020 was soon to be formally launched. On May 20, 2016, at the

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in New York, the inaugural ID2020 summit brought together over 400 people to discuss how to provide digital identity to all, a defined Sustainable Development Goal including to 1.5 billion people living without any form of recognized identification. Experts in

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and other cryptographic technology joined with representatives of technical standards bodies to identify how technology and other private sector expertise could achieve the goal. The 2018 summit was held in September 2018, and focused on defining what constitutes a "good" digital ID. Sponsors for the event included the

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Office of Information Communications Technology (OICT), United Nations Refugee Agency,

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and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York. In 2019, ID2020 started a new digital identity program in collaboration with the

government of Bangladesh The government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh () is the central government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Constitution of Bangladesh comprising the executive (the president, prime minister and cabinet), the ...

and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

Mission

ID2020 is a public-private consortium in service of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of providing legal identity for all people, including the world's most vulnerable populations. Accenture, Microsoft team up on blockchain-based digital ID network
Anna Irrera,

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, June 19, 2017 ID2020 has published a ten-point mission statement, which includes: "We believe that individuals must have control over their own digital identities, including how personal data is collected, used, and shared."

Participants

Organizations currently or formerly participating in the ID2020 initiative include:

COVID-19 conspiracy theory

Conspiracy theorists falsely alleged that ID2020 and

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

made plans for mandatory

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

and the implantation of microchips into patients' bodies. As a result of these conspiracy theories, the staff at ID2020 received death threats.

References

External links

*
World Health Organization: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Myth busters

Coronavirus
at

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{{COVID-19 pandemic Non-profit organizations based in New York City Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic Conspiracy theories Conspiracy theories in the United States Fake news Health-related conspiracy theories Misinformation Pseudohistory Pseudoscience 2016 establishments in the United States