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Rethinking Identity on the Evolving Web

When I first saw this video I cried at the end because the closing lines remind us the web as it has evolved is making us re-think everything including identity.

It uses the internet archive and text to narrate how the web has evolved from static pages with links to people generated content

These are the lines it closes with.

Digital text is no longer just linking information…

The web is connecting people sharing, trading, collaborating

We need to rethink a few things… copyright, authorship, identity, ethics, asthetics, retorics, governance,  privacy, commerce, love, family, ourselves.

It is the space for this “rethinking” that Identity Commons is meant to support. It is not something that can be figured out by corporations for corporations it must be a wholistic dialogue inclusive of a range of perspectives including the most important actor – the people themselves the end-user.

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Community Canon: Identity Lexicon

When we first started forming as a community  there were many different projects working aspects of user-centric identity – and these different projects were using different words to talk about the same things and in some cases the same words with different meanings.  Developing a shared language we used to talk about identity ideas/concepts was one of the first things that happened – so that we could get to coherently talking about the different proposals could converge.

Here is the Lexicon that got developed on the identity gang list in 2005.

This was not meant to be used to talk with "regular people" but rather this community of specialists to talk about detailed specifics of identity systems.

Agent: A computer system or device that has been delegated (authority, responsibility, a function, etc.) by and acts for a Party (in exercising the authority, carrying out the responsibility, performing the function, etc.).

Claim: An assertion made by a Claimant of the value or values of one or more Identity Attributes of a Digital Subject, typically an assertion which is disputed or in doubt.

Claimant: A Digital Subject representing a Party that makes a Claim.

Digital Identity: A digital representation of a set of Claims made by one Party about itself or another Digital Subject.

Digital Identity Provider: An Agent that issues a Digital Identity.

Digital Subject: An Entity represented or existing in the digital realm which is being described or dealt with.

Entity: A person, physical object, animal, or juridical entity

Identity Attribute: A property of a Digital Subject that may have zero or more values.

Identity Context: The surrounding environment and circumstances that determine meaning of Digital Identities and the policies and protocols that govern their interactions.

Party: A natural person or a juridical entity.

Persona: A preexisting Digital Identity that a user through an Agent has the ability to select and use to represent themselves in a given Identity Context.

Relying Party: A Party that makes known through its Agent one or more alternative sets of Claims that it desires or requires, and receives through this same Agent a Digital Identity purportedly including the required Claims from a Digital Identity Provider or other Agent of another Party.

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Identity Commons Logo

The Identity Commons logo is a mashup of the letters “i” and “c”, and it represents two ideas. The first is the notion of an upside-down umbrella. Identity Commons was founded on the notion that it would empower bottoms-up work, rather than organize itself from the top-down. The upside-down umbrella metaphor reflects that.

The second idea is a one-eyed smiley. As Meng Weng Wong, who conceived of this logo, explained:

In Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey, a scouting party led by Odysseus lands on the Island of the Cyclopes and discovers a large cave. They enter into the cave and feast on food they find there. This cave is the home of Polyphemus, who soon returns and traps the trespassers in the cave. He proceeds to eat several crew members, but Odysseus devises a cunning plan for escape.

To make Polyphemus unwary, Odysseus gives him a skin of very strong, unwatered wine. When Polyphemus asks for Odysseus’ name, he tells him that it is ‘Outis’, Greek for ‘no man’ or ‘nobody’. Once the giant falls asleep drunk, Odysseus and his men take the spit from the fire and drive it through Polyphemus’ only eye. Polyphemus’ cries of help are answered by the others of his race; however, they turn away from aiding him when they hear that “Nobody” is the cause of his woes.

This being the first recorded case of a security breach due to the lack of an identity management infrastructure, I hope that the Gentle Reader will forgive me for the visual pun: your upside-down umbrella is also a one-i’ed smiley.

As would be expected, this logo emerged from the efforts of several members of our community. Paul Trevithick drove the process and engaged with the designer to produce several iterations. Kaliya Hamlin suggested basing the logo around the upside-down umbrella metaphor. Meng Weng Wong built off of Kaliya’s idea and introduced the Cyclops metaphor.