BrightID is a solution for knowing whether someone exists in a system only once.

It was specifically designed to work well in a digital environment.

BrightID can solve a problem that is difficult for other identity solutions: the problem of unique identity. It does so in a way that doesn’t require personal data to be collected or attested by others.

BrightID is excellent for

• Keeping applications free from spam and abuse.
  
• Voting, rating, and reviews.
  
• Free trials, referrals, and giveaways.
  
• Distributing a Universal Basic Income.
  
• Tracking credit and other histories that may involve multiple accounts.
  

Groups in BrightID are useful for one thing: to prove that you’re a unique person. Groups represent a small number of people that know each other well. They can be as small as three people. They don’t need to correspond to an existing real-world or online group. Groups help verify their members by connecting to other known, good groups; the strength of a group’s connections to other groups helps verify all its members.

Creating and joining groups is easy and improves your ability to be verified by applications. You must belong to at least one group.

Biometrics (fingerprints, retina scans) are useful for determining whether someone belongs to a set of known people. They aren’t useful for stopping an attacker from creating duplicate identities–unless the test is administered by a trusted third party. BrightID uses relationships between close friends and relatives to verify unique personhood.

A third party may choose to use biometrics in conjunction with BrightID.

In order to stop an attacker from making duplicate identities, an AI would have to be able to recognize all attempts to alter or disguise one’s face. This is beyond the capability of an artificial intelligence for the foreseeable future.

BrightID uses trusted relationships between people to verify its users. This includes people’s ability to recognize someone in person using all available information, including recognizing their face. A real person’s ability to recognize another person far surpasses that of an AI.

Your name and photo exist to allow your connections to identify you and are not stored or used by BrightID outside of your and their devices.