TED Talk at University of Essex by David Birch (May 2012):  Birch is a director of Consult Hyperion, an IT management consultancy that specialises in electronic transactions. Described by the Oxford Internet Institute as "one of Britain's most acute observers of the internet and social networks", in The Telegraph as "one of the world's leading experts on digital money" and by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation as "one of the most user-friendly of the UK's uber-techies". He is a media commentator on electronic business issues and has appeared on BBC television and radio, Sky and other channels around the world.

Trish's Comment: 

My focus in the last couple of weeks has been to compare some of best known digital payment systems currently available or under development in the US - Google Wallet, PayPal, Square and V.me among others.  It is exciting to see that we are clearly moving away from mobile payments to digital payments - a much broader and 'liberating' concept - and that they all explicitly identify digital banking and digital commerce as key capabilities to be included in the wallet, albeit at a later stage.  But the wallets, given their (mostly) open architecture and their ability to communicate with the outside world (for example, via NFC), can be much more.  In fact, they can be almost anything.  And it was while pondering about the endless possibilities of the wallet that I came across David Birch's video on Dr. Who's Psychic Paper.  For those of you not familiar with Dr. Who, it is a British science fiction television program produced by the BBC in the 1960s.  The main character, The Doctor (or Dr. Who) is a time traveling, humanoid alien with two hearts that explores the universe in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) ship, which has the shape of a blue British police box (a long gone sight in British streets).  Or, as Birch describes him, he is the 'greatest living scientist in England and a beacon of true and enlightenment to all of us'.Whatever description you chose, his Psychic Paper is exactly what a digital wallet should aspire to be:  A means to show the exact elements of your identity that are required at any given time.  Nothing more and nothing else.  So, what does a bartender need to know about you?  That you are over 18 and that you are not bared from the bar.  What does a retailer need to know?  Your PIN (in an encrypted form).  And the bouncer at a party?  Your invite.  Or even further, what do you need to know before letting a stranger with a Comcast uniform into your home?  That she is indeed the Comcast employee scheduled to come at 3 pm.  Well, there is only one difference between the Psychic Paper and the wallet.  The Psychic Paper will show whatever you want it to show.  That is, it will show the bartender that you are over 18 regardless of your actual age or the bouncer an invite even if you have not been invited.  The wallet will only show that you are over 18 or your invite if in fact you are over 18 and you have an invitation.  

Of course, as Birch points out, everybody would need to have their own Psychic Paper and everybody would need to be able to read the relevant bits during each interaction.  It would need to be a convenient utility supported by a ubiquitous infrastructure.  It does sound like a job for NFC-enabled (or other type of proximity communication technology) phones and devices.  Something that we always carry with us, that we would quickly miss if it was lost, that could be easily protected from unauthorized access (via a pin or with some other recognition technology).Thank you David Birch for painting a clear picture of what a digital wallet should aspire to be!