Craig Burton

Just read the first few paragraphs here, if you have been following identity at all, you will want to read more. I have no idea who this guy is, Jamie Lewis sent me the link. Jamie is just too busy to blog anymore. (yeah yeah, lazy butt.)

Hankering For A World Without “Identity” or “Federation”

Author’s note: this is not a white paper. This is an opinion-piece, possibly a polemic. In it I expound what I believe rather than making an argument for you to believe it too; however if through it you arrive at a technical question or desire clarification, then please leave a comment using the tool provided. Also, there are footnotes annotated in square brackets. They are worth reading as you go along. Once I have had more coffee I’ll get round to making them into hyperlinks. Sorry.

Abstract

This posting began as an standalone article to describe my tussel with “Identity” in all its various forms, however it has evolved into a companion piece to Adriana’s musings on identity - not only because upon reading her posting I found us using like words and like metaphors to much the same conclusion, but also doubtless because it was she who singlehandedly provided me an alternative to a world without (or with much-reduced) “Big I” Identity.

However I wish to spell out my beliefs rather more bluntly, so here we go:

I believe that Identity is bunk.

I believe that the technologies of Identity are founded upon and perpetuate an outdated model of a passive user who lacks both the critical authority and the ability to participate in an authentication transaction, and further I submit that Identity’s commitment to this model inhibits its further evolution in the modern era.

…but before continuing I want to address a few potential misconstructions to aid later clarity - so for contrast I shall begin by listing a selection of identity-related topics which are emphatically not bunk:

dropsafe : Hankering For A World Without “Identity” or “Federation”