{
 "@context": "https://schema.org",
 "@type": "DefinedTerm",
 "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/identity",
 "identifier": "kaal:entity:identity",
 "name": "Identity",
 "termCode": "identity",
 "inDefinedTermSet": {
  "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/index.json"
 },
 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X"
 },
 "dateModified": "2026-07-29",
 "canonicalForm": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/identity.md",
 "sha256": "ac3e5b346a42b86f40f826a3eb5764c8eaecbae8faf62ada781ad6597d866d82",
 "additionalProperty": [
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   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "status",
   "value": "derived"
  },
  {
   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "claim_count",
   "value": 6
  },
  {
   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "work_count",
   "value": 6
  },
  {
   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "year_span",
   "value": [
    "2019",
    "2026"
   ]
  },
  {
   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "non_current_claims",
   "value": 0
  }
 ],
 "subjectOf": [
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3441904-019",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3441904-019",
   "text": "Corruption is possible whenever actors in a governance design can be identified, and every historical instantiation of institutional governance design involving identifiable humans was afflicted by corruption sooner or later.",
   "abstract": "Corruption is possible if actors can be identified. Every instantiation of institutional governance design involving identifiable humans was afflicted by corruption sooner or later.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Blockchain-Based Corporate Governance (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3441904",
   "datePublished": "2019",
   "claim_type": "condition",
   "confidence": "asserted",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "governance designs whose members are individually identifiable"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "e6b562527f7f19accaa35491db0a0db168b6a936755e1dca424e9f30bee7a815",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3652481-021",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3652481-021",
   "text": "The identity of actors in a DAO governance design typically creates corruptive elements, and merit identifiers other than individual identity remove the most corruptive influences.",
   "abstract": "Similarly, the identity of actors in a DAO governance design creates typically corruptive elements. Merit identifiers other than individual identity remove the most corruptive influences.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations – Internal Governance and External Legal Design (2020). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3652481",
   "datePublished": "2020",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "530b3a40c244aeca2eb4c53f4c9b4d6b2962bd6be9f92b4ebe17139c17f4c0e0",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782214-036",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3782214-036",
   "text": "Equal distribution of output, where every member receives an equal share regardless of contribution, is impossible to maintain under current technology in a system with open access and privacy, because sockpuppet accounts would be abused.",
   "abstract": "This is impossible to maintain under the current technology with open access and privacy, since sockpuppet accounts would be abused. Improvements in ZK proofs and identity protocols, however, will soon make it possible to efficiently and securely com- bat such sockpuppet attacks.",
   "citation": "Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralized Governance (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782214",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "open access membership",
    "privacy or pseudonymity preserved",
    "current identity technology"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "ba892bb200c1455447c0014f5067a501a93ea9ec413c31942d95952eb3bdfd9d",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3799320-038",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3799320-038",
   "text": "Superficial identifiers such as language, race, culture, social media profiles, and credit scores play less of a role in DAO of DAOs voting design, which allows inclusion of constituents who have no agency in centralized systems.",
   "abstract": "Such relatively superficial identifiers play less of a role in the DAO of DAOs voting designs. The more equal distribution of power in the DAO of DAOs governance design allows the inclusion of constituents who otherwise have no agency in centralized systems.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) of DAOs (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3799320",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "design",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "reputation based voting rather than identity based access"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "c3dff852f2d3f04718c829a24189309a7db4d92d84f6045d3d4f562d87c03e63",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4067783-035",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:4067783-035",
   "text": "Proof of personhood projects such as Proof of Humanity and UBI DAO fail because they rest on web-of-trust theory, which has been proven not to work long-term given the sockpuppet attacks that are inevitable in that design.",
   "abstract": "Of course, these attempts are all falling victim to web-of-trust theory that has been proven to not work long-term because the sockpuppet attacks that are inevitable in this design.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, DAO Fallacies (2022). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4067783",
   "datePublished": "2022",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "identity systems built on web-of-trust vouching"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "48f1e307cdbbe28c7843f7744d0ba8cf01662f257a53f2066a7a6c7e03a5acec",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/6192998-001",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:6192998-001",
   "text": "Reputation systems that depend on persistent identity collapse in decentralized settings because agents can create new identities at no cost, so a poorly performing agent abandons its account and starts fresh, a practice known as whitewashing.",
   "abstract": "First, the identity problem: Reputation systems built on persistent identity5 collapse when agents can costlessly create new identities. A poorly-performing agent simply abandons their account and starts fresh, a phenomenon known as whitewashing.6",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Evolution of Domain-Specific Reputation Systems From Binary Validation to Citation-Weighted Knowledge Attribution (2026). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6192998",
   "datePublished": "2026",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "decentralized or pseudonymous environments where identity creation is costless"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "b04292561ee041e0c9eaa7eca28a410ed440e76a95743a539361a3f76c97f2b3",
   "status": "current"
  }
 ],
 "description": "6 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'identity'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition."
}