This proposal (63 page PDF) has the potential to be important. The authors describe a 'personhood' credential to help websites distinguish between humans (and perhaps their authorized AI agents) and bots. An attractive feature of the proposal is that it preserves anonymity; all the website knows is that you're a person, but not who. The credential depends on in-person verification (but UK take note: not a pub) and cryptography. Would it work? Probably. But would it be abused? Almost certainly. It's a tiny leap from verifying in person that you're a person to verifying in person that you're an adult. And from there to verifying that you're, say, a citizen. Or a CAA member. Or a political party member.
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