No phone-home
- Problem
- Digital credentials can tell the issuer every time and place they are used, turning identification into continuous observation.
- Pattern
- Verifiers check a credential's authenticity and status without contacting the issuer about the specific presentation. Status and revocation are published in forms that do not reveal who is checking whom.
- Preserves
- The restraint of a physical license: showing it does not inform the DMV.
- Law
- VIDA Section 11.
Authorized answer
- Problem
- Government needs an answer to a defined question but receives the entire record from which the answer could be derived.
- Pattern
- Return the proposition, not the informational environment: "over 21: yes," "eligible: yes," "license valid: yes," with selective disclosure or cryptographic proof.
- Preserves
- Minimum knowledge exposure for every transaction.
- Law
- VIDA Sections 10 and 12.
Query-without-collection
- Problem
- Checking a condition, such as a plate against a warrant list or an applicant against enrollment, usually creates a stored history of everyone checked.
- Pattern
- Evaluate the condition and retain nothing about non-matches. The system confirms or denies; it does not build a history.
- Preserves
- Every legitimate hit, without a population movement or activity log.
- Law
- VLPFA; PDTA Section 10; GAAFA Section 24.
Holder-controlled credential
- Problem
- Central identity repositories make every verification a lookup in a government database.
- Pattern
- Government attests to specific facts on a credential the person holds and presents. Delegation supports guardians and parents. Nondigital equivalents remain available.
- Preserves
- Endorsement without control: government vouches for facts; it does not own the record of who you are.
- Law
- VIDA Sections 9, 18 and 20.
Renewed authority gate
- Problem
- Exceptional needs, such as emergencies, investigations and recovery, are met by giving standing broad access to many people.
- Pattern
- Broader access requires an identifiable authorization transition: a new purpose, an independent source of authority, a defined object, scope and duration. Break-glass access is invocation-specific, expiring, attributable and reviewed.
- Preserves
- Authorization friction: broader knowledge cannot be reached through ordinary standing access.
- Law
- PDTA Section 8; VIDA Section 18.
Supporting techniques
Purpose sequestration, Zero Trust architecture (NIST SP 800-207), attribute-based access control (NIST SP 800-162), verifiable credentials and decentralized identifiers on open standards, and anti-correlation identifiers are the main building blocks. They are tools; the law supplies the authority they must enforce.