Reminds me of the Identity Service project that Francesca Rosella did for her thesis project at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in 2003. http://www.cutecircuit.com/now/projects/telecom-and-services/ identity-service/
... or the darker 2004 thesis project of Eyal Fried and Luther Thie, Acclair: http://www.acclair.co.uk best, molly On Mar 6, 2006, at 12:04 PM, Anthony Townsend wrote: > > A friend of mine, Jim Youll, tried to do something similar at the > Media Lab > in 2000 called CreditBinder, but it never took off.. > > http://agentzero.com/~jim/archive/medialab/creditbinder/ > > ------- > > Monday, March 06, 2006 > Identity 2.0 > > An open-source identity management system could change the way we > share > personal information over the Internet. > > By Kate Greene > > The Internet can be dangerous. It wasn't designed to safeguard > important > information -- such as people's social-security numbers, home > addresses, or > bank-account information. Because of this lack of built-in > security, the > task of managing private data has fallen to a host of private > entities: > banks, credit-card companies, online merchants, insurance > companies, and the > like. > > Recently, however, software engineers and policy makers have been > designing > a new layer of security for the Internet. The goal is to free up > identity > information from organizations and companies, and also allow > individuals > more control over who sees their personal information. > > Last week, IBM and Novell announced they would supply programming > code to an > open-source software initiative -- a project that could become the > framework > for people to transfer personal information securely, from credit- > card and > social-security numbers to eBay ratings and instant messenging "buddy" > lists. > > The project, named Higgins, is managed by the Eclipse Foundation, an > open-source community. In fact, it's the first identity management > framework > to use the open-source software model, in which anyone can contribute > software code. Higgins aims to "provide a simple way for multiple > identity > management systems to interact," says Mike Milinkovich, executive > director > of the foundation. IBM is expected to roll out software that > incorporates > Higgins technology within the next year or so. > > One "identity management system" that Higgins might interact with is > Microsoft's recently announced InfoCard, which will be integrated > into its > new Vista operating system. InfoCard exchanges user-specified > information > with authenticated parties, allowing people to be less dependent on > multiple > user names and passwords. For instance, an InfoCard, which could be > linked > with various existing banks or credit-card companies, might contain > your > name, address, and account number. If you wanted to purchase a book at > Amazon, the relevant information from your InfoCard would be > supplied to > Amazon (an InfoCard- and user-authenticated party). Since you > wouldn't have > to re-enter your information on Amazon's website, it would also > reduce the > chance that it could be stolen. > > Kim Cameron, architect of identity and access at Microsoft, > considers the > current identity situation on the Web -- with its passwords, > cookies, and > auto-complete forms -- to be a "patchwork of one-off and ad-hoc > identity > contraptions." InfoCard and similar management systems will help, > he says, > to add a secure layer of identity to the Internet. > > Higgins will complement rather than compete with InfoCard and other > management systems, says John Clippinger, a senior fellow at the > Berkman > Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Although the > two > systems share the goal of managing personal information, Clippinger > makes a > distinction: "Higgins is not an identity management system at all. > It works > with [those systems]; it overlays them, and part of its value is a > way to > federate different identity management systems." In other words, > Higgins > could allow people to control and transfer different types of identity > information. > > The potential of Higgins becomes clearer if one compares the > offerings of > different identity management systems. InfoCard solves one of the > biggest > security issues on the Internet, says Dick Hardt, CEO of Sxip > Identity, a > firm that sells another management system, which helps users protect > themselves from identity theft. "[Microsoft has] built something > that's > highly isolated and secure." But, Hardt adds, you don't need > InfoCard's > security power to move around, for instance, your Amazon DVD > preferences to > Netflix -- that's something Sxip software is designed to accommodate. > Higgins would connect together both of these systems, so the user > would be > unaware of having multiple identity systems. > > In order for Higgins to work well with highly secure applications, > such as > InfoCard, as well as in less secure environments, it needs a high > level of > security itself. Being an open-source application helps achieve > this, says > Raj Nagaratnam, chief architect for identity management at IBM. > "The open > source model allows for hundreds of thousands of developers...if > there's > vulnerability, they will fix it and continually build the platform." > > And Higgins addresses more than just the idea of secure software for > identity management, Nagaratnam says. "The reason we went to open > source is > because this problem isn't just a technical issue, it's about how > end-users > want to actively manage their identities. It brings in social > aspects of how > users want to collaborate." > > In fact, Harvard's Clippinger expects that Higgins could eventually > help > people go beyond simply managing their individual identity > information -- > and toward establishing user communities based on a framework of > trusted > identities. It could be similar to the way eBay allows users to create > markets and communities around common interests. For instance, a > person in > an eBay community could share selected information with people in > groups at > Yahoo, Clippinger says. > > Helping to develop trusted communities is an important goal of the > Higgins > project, agrees Milinkovich of the Eclipse Foundation, and it's > fundamental > to the open-source community as well. "I think it's very important > that > these kinds of identity management systems be done in an open, > transparent, > and vendor-neutral way," he says. "This area of technology is far too > important for individuals and society at large to be left to any > one vendor. > The greater the transparency, the greater the trust." > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "telecom-cities" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/telecom-cities -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
