Anonymous Federated ID (AFxID) is a decentralised and privacy-centric identity solution that eliminates the requirement for visitors to disclose Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Representing the evolution of existing standards (Federated Identity), this innovative approach ensures heightened privacy and security, while accommodating for personalisation and heightened relevancy, and increase satisfaction and ad yield.
Originally designed in 2018, and patented in the USA in 2022, the AdFixus method is positioned well to become the global standard for anonymous authentication.
Background
As the internet industry has shifted to a higher level of authentication, offering benefits to both consumers and companies, such as personalisation, reduced friction in engagement/purchases, and data collection, there has also been a rise in services aimed at assisting consumers and businesses with the authentication process. Core to this is Federated Authentication, also known as Federated Identity.
What is Federated Identity
Federated Identity streamlines the authentication process, exemplified by features such as "Login with Facebook" or "Login with Google". Instead of managing distinct logins for each site, visitors can employ a single trusted login, centrally managed by a trusted provider, to seamlessly access various websites. This not only eliminates the need for multiple passwords but also enhances the efficiency of utilising different online platforms and maintaining credentials.
Federated Identity follows the OpenID connect standard. The source site navigates to the identity provider which then tries to authenticate the user. Upon success the identity provider redirects back to the original site, using tokens and cookies to transfer and store identification information.
This process is illustrated below:
In this process, users interact with the identity provider to log in, giving their consent during the first visit and subsequent visits to the site. This method is convenient for many sites, making it easier to implement and streamline the user registration process.
However, there are a couple of drawbacks: (1) Users logically have to provide Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and (2) when consumers use federated authentication on a third-party site, their data is shared with both the engaged website and the identity provider.
While many identity providers allow users to limit this data sharing, it's still an important consideration, as it has both privacy and security implications.
What is Anonymous Federated Identity (AFxID)
At the core of the AdFixus platform is our patented method, Anonymous Federated Identity.
While similar to the previously mentioned Federated Authentication/Identity, the crucial difference is that AdFixus, acting as the identity provider, doesn't require, collect, store, or commercialise consumer data.
In the above diagram, observe how ACME Corporation obtains a single Anonymous Federated Identity (AFxID), exclusively owned and applicable throughout their ecosystem for purposes like personalisation, attribution, customer journey management, media optimisation, and analysis.
Similar to Federated Identity, this process requires consumer consent, ensuring consent before the identifier is generated and stored in the consumer’s browser. Unlike Federated Authentication, the identifier (AFxID) is decentralised, residing in the client's browser, and is unique for each visited corporation, preventing the open sharing of the AFxID with third parties.
AdFixus preserves anonymity by not using any personal information, including browser signals, as part of the process and applying multiple layers of encryption to prevent sharing.
ACME Corporation can capture and store the identifier along with personal information supplied by the consumer (e.g., provided as part of a loyalty program or similar). Yet to ensure consumers remain in control, AdFixus provides the consumer the ability to remove/recreate their identifier at any time.
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