I think that the credit card corporations can handle the whole digital identity thing. What more do we need than MBNA and Visa International, CitiCard and so forth? If you use the net to buy and sell, then these are the folks who can be your intermediaries. But we’re talking about the “real” you. So if your online identity is transparent — if your name is the same online and off, then these fine companies can handle your transactions.
Anonymity requires deeper authentication. To be anonymous and participate in web commerce will require an identity broker.
Creating a new identity through the use of a pseudonym requires a different approach.
Discuss.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Doug Alder 09.07.06 at 10:29
Have you looked into the Higgins Trust Framework - http://www.eclipse.org/higgins/
http://go.techtarget.com/r/516614/1085951
“The Higgins framework enables users to securely store identity information and related data and to integrate that data across multiple systems and applications. Stored data can be shared anonymously among Web applications, online vendors and service providers in a controlled manner. The Higgins API (application program interface) can be thought of as a repository for cookie-like data that makes it convenient for users to conduct e-commerce and interact with Web sites, without the security problems inherent in conventional cookies that reside on the user’s hard disk.”
Frank Paynter 09.07.06 at 11:14
of course one would have to trust the Higgins framework…
madame l. 09.07.06 at 11:33
that’s henry higgens, right? i trust him.
Frank Paynter 09.07.06 at 1:22
coo… uv course y’do dearie… bit of a mentor wa’n't ‘e?
Charles Follymacher 09.08.06 at 1:34
“Anonymity requires deeper authentication. To be anonymous and participate in web commerce will require an identity broker. Creating a new identity through the use of a pseudonym requires a different approach.”
It’s like you’ve made a series of warp jumps and I got left behind at sucky Pluto.
I can see the value of hiding your porn online subscriptions, but a “paper”(digital) trail is a paper trail. ISPs, our internets gatekeepers/brokers are already subject to court orders. If the gubmint reeally wants to know who bought what, when, then payment in small, unremarkable bills is the only recourse. Or perhaps some complex system of bartering sealed with a handshake.
If you’ve managed to snag a unique identifier, what more do you need for online interaction (not talkin commerce)?