53 Years of Public Key Infrastructure and It's Still Broken?

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) has long underpinned online trust, yet its flaws remain unresolved. As Europe advances toward a unified digital identity framework, this survey reviews PKI’s evolution, highlights its risks, and examines global digital ID successes and failures. The findings suggest that while PKI can enable secure eID systems, caution is needed to avoid repeating past mistakes and to ensure compliance with GDPR and human rights standards.