uPortlandia is uPort’s vision of the future of data and identity management. A future of password-free online experiences. A future where you can prove who you are or verify facts about your life while sharing far less personal information. A future where we, the people, we as individuals, control our digital identities. Without being beholden to the Facebooks, Experians, or Googles of the world.

This is hardly a new vision. The cypherpunk and identity communities have been sketching out the value and requirements of this future for a couple decades. But although this vision was birthed many years ago, we’ve faced real challenges getting it in the hands of the public, the people who really need it. There are lots of stories to tell about why this is taking longer than we’d like in the age of blockchain. But ultimately, like so many technology adoption arcs, these boil down to the bootstrapping problem of getting users and network effect. Once we have a critical mass of users, the ecosystem of people, businesses and government will hum. You’ll get the stuff you want without sharing your eye color, your location, or your preference for Nickelback.

In the blockchain / crypto space, the number one challenge that we’re all working towards is better UX. With a decade of mobile under our belts, we mostly understand why and how people use their mobiles for their everyday personal and commercial activities — messaging, video calls, buying stuff, etc. What we’ve been missing in the blockchain-based identity space is UX. Great UX. UX that’s as easy-peasy as Apple Wallet. But this UX topic needs its own separate article, which is part 2 of this series.

For now, let’s tackle the question of how controlling our personal data works…

Easy Personal Data Control in a Thriving Economy

uPortlandia is a city from Italo Calvino’s municipal mediation, Invisible Cities. It’s a city where the municipal government is eager to return data ownership back to their citizens, while ensuring economic dynamism and growth. It’s a city where, once established, you can reuse data attributes about yourself so you don’t have to fill out boring and time-wasting paperwork every darn time you want to buy something from another vendor.