Civic and uPort are both identity provider DApps on Ethereum. Currently, your identity information is generally held by a centralized entity: a government, Facebook, Google, and so on. On many places throughout the web, you can be asked to log in by using Facebook or Google. Behind the scenes, the website reaches out to one of these providers, it hands over identity credentials, and then the site lets you in. The downside to this is that the information that you relinquish is under the control and management of a third-party. If one of these providers decided to stop serving you, or provided false information, there would be little you could do about it.

Civic and uPort are both decentralized solutions to identity where the identity owner manages their identity on the blockchain and can grant and revoke permissions through a provider service under their control.

Many upcoming DApps have a blend of blockchain behavior, web activity, and mobile application behaviors. By using one of these providers, you can plug into the emerging decentralized identity ecosystem in addition to supporting centralized providers.