3 December, 2006 - 1:12pm

Doc Searls' Linux Journal article, "Let's go bust some silos" does an excellent job of highlighting the issues of identity on the web and the need for identity services that are centered on individuals rather than organizations.

He notes that there isn't one user-centric ID approach, but rather several ways for individuals to control and assert their identities in the world. These include Microsoft CardSpace, i-Names and OpenID, all of which are attempting to solve the problem of web anonymity and SSO to varying degrees, and that the new Whobar tool from Sxip lets users login to a site using a choice of approaches.

Doc concludes however that the real problem with online digital identity is the issue of data silos and proposes an interesting complementary user-centric solution, Vendor Relationship Management, which is different than a way of managing one's identities. "VRM should equip the customer to actually relate to vendors, and not just to buy stuff from them. In order to do that, a high degree of control on the customer's side is required." He's working with others at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society. It will be exciting to see what comes out of the project.