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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT

) has unveiled plans to craft a new form of digital identity on the blockchain Internet. 

In the current Internet ecosystem, services such as social media and search engines, provide free access in exchange for user data, which is subsequently sold to advertisers. Users of these services have limited control over how the data is used. In a February 12 blog post, Ankur Patel, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft’s Identity division, revealed details related to the company’s efforts to establish a new paradigm for such transactions. (See also: Blockchain Could Make You The Owner Of Your Data.) 

The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has revealed its digital identification platform is moving into beta phase, with CEO Gavin Slater telling Senate Estimates on Tuesday morning the next stage will allow individuals to create an online form of ID.

Pointing to last week's launch of the Trusted Digital Identity Framework that sets out the rules and standards for a nationally consistent approach to digital ID, Slater said the framework sits alongside the cloud-based platform the DTA is using for prototyping the digital identification play.

Just as we need to protect Australia’s critical infrastructure—our banking systems, power supplies, ports and roads—we must protect our digital information assets, particularly those that make us a nation legally, culturally, socially and historically.

Digital and digitised data is part of what makes us Australian. It underpins our democracy, our law, our society and how we see ourselves. It’s essentially the evidence of who we were, are and, probably, will be.