Excellent Kim Cameron interview (by David Berlind at PC Forum) available here...the comments on the ZDNet site are a fun read. One is titled "I can manage my own identity, thank you very much." - this is about as misguided as saying "I can make my own Driver's License, thank you very much."
Another describes a 1984-like scenario - only with more comprehensive surveillance technology - that Kim's company is supposedly bring into being. The reality is that Kim is one of the most articulate advocates for reforming identity, protecting privacy, and empowering individuals .
The fear, mistrust, and misinformation around identity - especially as it relates to Microsoft - continue to bubble up - meanwhile the identity status quo remains spooky. The sad reality is that many of the identity dynamics that the fear mongers fear are already at work. Your consumer behavior is tracked, your transaction history is aggregated and sold, your core identity assets - the attributes that can be used to breed accounts - are managed by incompetent or unscrupulous IT staff .
The identity status quo will be reformed (and very likely regulated), the reform will involve technology innovation, that innovation will be delivered by software vendors large and small, and the major beneficiaries of the reform will be individuals.
How long all this takes depends in large part on how many ungrounded arguments the fear mongers can come up with to delay much needed reform.
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