I was at the April Mashup* last night which was very well attended. I was billed as a 'contributor' to ensure that the Questions and Debate session was lively however, in the event, the audience response was more than energetic so I chose to 'listen and learn' rather than interrupt.
Tom Ilube of garlik has a very clear defined target market and is struggling to find the vocabulary to engage Pat Fisher of Eastenders who has no idea or interest in her 'Digital Identity'.
Richard Baker of BT gave the Enterprise perspective of Identity Management.
Edgar Whitley of LSE somehow was seen as a proponent of the Government National Identity Register when, indeed, he and his colleagues have been vociferous critics of the proposed cost and process whilst recognising the potential benefits to the citizen (convenience of joined-up-government) and tax payer (less costly duplication in government).
Simon Wilison showed his passion for OpenID whilst stressing that it is a very small part of Identity & Information Management on which applications can be built.
Luke Razzell, founder of Identity Society, (PAOGA is a member) has long been a deep thinker in this area and is providing a forum for interested parties to interact and share their thoughts and technology.
More detailed information about this event can be found at the Mashup* blog.
My concern is that we are still debating the fundamentals of 'what is identity?' and getting tangled up in techno-babble as if this is a new, digital phenomenon and we are all searching for THE solution. There is no 'one size fits all' solution. Identity, or differentiation, was and is the reason that individuals painted their faces with blue woad, wore a feathered headdress, carry a flag or wear a ManU tee-shirt. It says 'This is who I am, this is the community I belong to, this is what I like.' It can also say 'I have the means to pay you' or 'I can be trusted' and a whole lot more. Nothing has changed - the challenge is to enable these established behaviours and understandings to be emulated in our digital world including the ability to project multiple identities and to be anonymous when needed.
Another issue was 'what is the value?', 'How many people have had money taken out of their account which wasn't reimbursed by the bank?', Will individuals pay for this service?'. As I have said many times, an individuals personal information, including their identity, MUST have value or else it wouldn't be collected, harvested, traded, sold and stolen. Often personal information is freely and willingly given in exchange for a product or service such as a Driving Licence or the Deeds to my house. The problem arises when we find out that, without our knowledge or permission, this information is sold by the DVLA to criminals for £2.50 or that a new database means that the price I paid for my house is available to all from the Land Registry. So what will happen to my Passport Information or my Medical Records? Who do I trust? - I trust ME to decide who sees what, when and why.
And it's not just about financial loss. Ask those people who have been impersonated resulting in rejections of employment, mortgages and loans for no fault of their own or debt collectors and bailiffs turning up at their door. In some cases it has taken them 2 years to rebuild their reputation and trust with all the inconvenience, stress and costs that goes with it.
Taking the issue of Personal Identity Management Services (PIMS) further I had an interesting meeting with Mark Charmer of The Movement Design Bureau about Identity in the future. Forget your 5 year plans, Mark is passionate about futurology and the world in 20 - 50 years out with double today's population and the implications for future cities, employment, transport, water, food and climate.
