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Posts Tagged ‘digital identity’

Take Back Your Self

January 7th, 2009
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On my Identities Overview page, I talk about the different forms of identities that we have. One of those forms is a digital you: the email and online accounts that you have, the mailing lists and databases that you’re part of. In reality, much of this identity reaches into our other identity forms, such as our economic profile and our citizenship.

Renowned security expert Bruce Schneier wrote an essay last May 15, 2008, called Our Data, Ourselves. In it he pointed out that:

Who controls our data controls our lives.

It’s true. Whoever controls our data can decide whether we can get a bank loan, on an airplane or into a country. Or what sort of discount we get from a merchant, or even how we’re treated by customer support. A potential employer can, illegally in the U.S., examine our medical data and decide whether or not to offer us a job. The police can mine our data and decide whether or not we’re a terrorist risk. If a criminal can get hold of enough of our data, he can open credit cards in our names, siphon money out of our investment accounts, even sell our property. Identity theft is the ultimate proof that control of our data means control of our life.

We need to take back our data.

Our data is a part of us. It’s intimate and personal, and we have basic rights to it. It should be protected from unwanted touch.

Schneier calls for the passage of a comprehensive data privacy law with real penalties for violations. I’m all for this, and given our new administration’s commitment to expanding broadband in America, it’s time to start talking about this now.

Coaching Moment: Recently many people on Twitter were stung by a series of “click here” phishing attempts to take over their accounts. One third-party company collected many twitter usernames and passwords while offering a momentarily helpful service, but then turned around and sold his database for a reported $1200. On a higher but related level, financial identity theft is (still) on the rise.

I hope you have not been a victim. Chances are increasing that you will be. What concerns you the most about losing your privacy or control over your digital destiny? I’d love to know.

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On Managing One’s Identity

December 7th, 2008
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This video, an Introduction to Digital Identity by Stefan Brands is from the Google Tech Talk series. This talk was held about a year ago (Jan. 25, 2007). Its an hour long, so get your drinks and munchies ready. As Google Tech Talks go, this one is not overly technical.

Note: the volume is a bit unstable in this video. It starts out loud, about 5 minutes in goes quiet, and continues to change periodically.

Google Tech Talks
January 25, 2007

ABSTRACT

Identity management is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of electronic communication and transaction systems. Applications such as electronic commerce, social networking, electronic health record management, government online, and enterprise identity and access management all critically rely on the ability to manage, provision, and authenticate the “identities” of people, devices, processes, and other entities. Three approaches to identity management can be distinguished: silo identity management, federated identity management, and user-centric identity management. Each of these has unique characteristics with regards to security, privacy, …

Coaching moment: In this video, you see an introduction to user-based identity. You’ll also hear that this is where the friction starts to develop as people and corporate interests start to disagree on how to implement the future. If you’d like to have a say in one future or another, learn more about the topics of single sign-on, user-centric or user-driven services, and tools to control your digital domain. Talk with your friends about it so the terms become familiar. The stronger our collective personal voice, the harder it will be to erase our personal interests.

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