A way for states to offer digital ID that protects your privacy by design.
State-Endorsed Digital Identity (SEDI) is a model any state can adopt in whole or in part. The state vouches for facts about you, and you control when and with whom you share them.
The short version
The basics
The state vouches, you decide
Your state confirms facts it has already verified, like your age or residency. You choose which of those facts to share, and with whom.
The state may not track where you use it
The agency that issued your ID is not told when or where you show it, and your ID works even without an internet connection.
Your physical ID always works
Digital ID is optional. You keep the right to a physical ID, and you get the same services either way.
How it works
Four steps, with you in control
Get your ID
Pick your wallet
Approve each request
The business checks it
Is and is not
What SEDI is, and what it is not
SEDI is
A set of legal rights and technical rules for digital ID
Voluntary, with your physical ID always available
Held on your own device, in a wallet you choose
Built on open standards that are free to use
The state vouching for facts it has already verified
SEDI is not
A single app or one type of credential
Required to get services
A national ID
Tied to one company or one technology
A way for the state to track where you use your ID
From the 2025 SEDI Summit
“SEDI, State-Endorsed Digital Identity, doesn't give you an identity. You already have one. Rather, SEDI endorses it.”
Phil Windley
Co-founder, Internet Identity Workshop
The ground rules
What a state-endorsed digital identity must do,
and what it must never do.
It must
Let you share only what is needed.
Prove you are 21 or older without showing your birth date.
Work offline.
No signal needed.
Let you pick your own wallet.
Not one the state chooses for you.
Use open standards.
Free for anyone to use.
It must never
Let the state track where you use it.
The agency that issued your ID is not told when or where you show it.
Be required.
Your physical ID always works.
Make you hand over your phone.
You stay in control of your device.
Lock a state into one company.
No single vendor owns the system.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Your rights
The eleven rights in plain language
Bring SEDI to your state
The model bill, the public implementation guide, and Utah's experience.