2001 Previous << History of Digital Identity 2002 >> Next 2003

TYPE: [PROPOSAL] Augmented Social Network (ASN)
DESCRIPTION: The ideas behind the ASN came out of a two year process facilitated by the Link Tank, a group of two dozen professionals in the fields of digital communications, environmental activism, independent media, and socially responsible investment, who met regularly to discuss how a "next generation" Internet could support appropriate responses to the environmental crisis. The group commissioned three of its members to prepare a white paper that demonstrates the feasibility of the ASN's vision of online community by describing a technical architecture that could achieve this vision. The paper was presented at the PlaNetwork Conference "Networking a Sustainable Future" in June, 2003. [Download PDF of the full White Paper on the ASN]
PARTICIPANTS: Ken Jordan: ken@kenjordan.tv, Steven Foster: foster@geoman.com, Jan Hauser: jan@janhauser.com
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: N/A

TYPE: [PARTICIPANT] Scott Cantor
DESCRIPTION: Scott has been active in the design and implementation of Internet2/Shibboleth project, an application of SAML designed to bridge domains of authentication in education and research with each other and with other information service providers. He is also co-author of SAML v.2.
PARTICIPANTS: N/A
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: N/A

TYPE: [WEBSITE/CONFERENCE/MAGAZINE] Digital ID World
DESCRIPTION: Digital Identity World is the hub of the digital identity industry, providing comprehensive news, exclusive interviews, market statistics and expert commentary on the people, companies, products and events shaping the digital identity space. Digital Identity World is dedicated to providing only the highest quality online industry resources, newsletters and community building conferences, events and tradeshows.
PARTICIPANTS: Eric Norlan, Steve Larsen, Charles Fitzgerald, Andre Durand, Phil Becker (Insert Others here)
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: N/A

TYPE: [Software] Drupal [Distributed Authentication]
DESCRIPTION: A dynamic web site platform which allows an individual or community of users to publish, manage and organize a variety of content, Drupal integrates many popular features of content management systems, weblogs, collaborative tools and discussion-based community software into one easy-to-use package. Distributed authentication: One of the more tedious moments in visiting a new website is filling out the registration form. Here at drupal.org, you do not have to fill out a registration form if you are already a member of Drupal. This capability is called distributed authentication, and is unique to Drupal, the software which powers drupal.org. Distributed authentication enables a new user to input a username and password into the login box, and immediately be recognized, even if that user never registered at drupal.org. This works because Drupal knows how to communicate with external registration databases. For example, lets say that new user 'Joe' is already a registered member of Delphi Forums. Drupal informs Joe on registration and login screens that he may login with his Delphi ID instead of registering with drupal.org. Joe likes that idea, and logs in with a username of joe@remote.delphiforums.com and his usual Delphi password. Drupal then contacts the remote.delphiforums.com server behind the scenes (usually using XML-RPC, HTTP POST, or SOAP) and asks: "Is the password for user Joe correct?". If Delphi replies yes, then we create a new drupal.org account for Joe and log him into it. Joe may keep on logging into drupal.org in the same manner, and he will always be logged into the same account.
PARTICIPANTS: ?????
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: XML-RPC, HTTP POST, or SOAP

TYPE: [Research Paper] "Faceted Id/entity: Managing Representation in a Digital World."
DESCRIPTION: "In this thesis, i articulate a theory of how and why individuals use context to convey only a facet of their identity in social interactions. Through this lens, i discuss current issues in digital identity management. In this discussion, i focus on the role of design in affecting an individual’s ability to maintain control of personal representation and identity information. I argue that the architecture of current digital environments has altered our notions of context, motivating users to develop new mechanisms for managing their presentation. I take the stance that users should have the ability to control their digital identity for the same reasons that they seek to control their physical identity, most notably to present themselves in an appropriate manner in relation to the current situation. From this perspective, i argue for a design approach that will aid sociable designers in developing human-centered technologies that allow for individual control over personal identity. First, i argue the need for mechanisms of self-awareness and discuss what forms of awareness users should have. In doing so, i analyze current approaches to awareness and critique my own work on Social Network Fragments, a visualization tool for revealing the structure of one’s digital social network. Alongside self-awareness, i present the need for identity management and critique my work on SecureId, a prototype intended to give users control over their digital presentation by offering security through identity-based knowledge. This thesis argues for empowering users through awareness and control, so that they may provide the level of regulation that is desirable. In doing so, i offer a novel approach to context and identity management in digital social interaction."
PARTICIPANTS: Dana Boyd
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: N/A

TYPE: [COMPANY/WEB SERVICES] Novell acquires Silverstream
DESCRIPTION: SilverStream gave the company what is today Novell's Extend product set. Extend provides the tools for enabling information systems and resources to be deployed as Web services, as well as a standards-based J2EE application platform for their integration and deployment.
PARTICIPANTS: ???
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: ExteNd applications are 100% web-technology-aware in areas like SOAP and WSDL. Using Enterprise Connect functionality, Composer's core capabilities can be extended to include connectivity with 3270, 5250 and Telnet data streams, EDI, JDBC, flat files, CICS transactions, HTML streams, Messaging enabled application via JMS, and other data sources.

TYPE: [COMPANY]  Opinity, Inc.
DESCRIPTION: Founded in 2002, Opinity is the first online personal reputation services company. Based in San Jose, California, the company's management team has 40 years of combined experience in high technology. Wongyu Ted Cho, chief executive officer, and Doyon Kim, chief product officer, founded successful Internet start-ups Dialpad Communications and Serome Technology, growing large-scale web services from inception to acquisition.
PARTICIPANTS: Wongyu Ted Cho, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer; Doyon Kim, Chief Product Officer; Jinkuen Paul Choi, Chief Technology Officer; Hongcheol Scott Kim, Chief Financial Officer; Bill H. Washburn, Ph.D., Vice President of Business Development; Owen Davis, Bradgarlinghouse, Sangki "Steve" Han
SUPPORTED STANDARDS:

TYPE: [COMPANY] Oracle acquires Oblix (See Oblix 1996)
DESCRIPTION:
PARTICIPANTS:
SUPPORTED STANDARDS:

TYPE: [COMPANY] PingIdenity, Inc.
DESCRIPTION: Ping Identity Corporation is founded. Andre seeks angel investors amongst his old Durand Communications investors -- including an old colleague from the electronic bulletin board days, Phil Becker. Phil (now living 1 hr south of denver - on a hilltop, in a beautiful house) writes the first check to Andre to invest in Ping -- recounting later that he did so simply because he "wanted to see what he'd do with the money."
PARTICIPANTS: Andre Durand, Linda Elliot, Bryan Field-Elliot, Bill Wood, Eric Norlan, Frank Cardello, Bill Reid
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: SAML 1.1, SOAP 1.1, PKCS No. 10, XML 1.0, XML Signature, XML Encryption, HTTP basic authentication

TYPE: [STANDARD] Security Assertion Markup Language 1.0 (SAML 1.0)
DESCRIPTION: A framework for the exchange of security-related information
PARTICIPANTS: OASIS
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: OASIS SAML 1.0

TYPE: [COMPANY] Sun MicroSystems, Inc.
DESCRIPTION: Sun Micro announced combined software, hardware and services to aid corporations in building a system to manage the identity of employees, customers and others accessing their network services. The Sun Open Net Environment Platform for Network Identity functions to allow organizations to offer single sign-on to disparate applications, as well as authenticate users and services and authorize transactions. Sun initiated a coalition termed the Liberty Alliance to assure that Web services providers and customers have a choice of software other than Microsoft's, according to Jonathan Schwartz at Sun.
PARTICIPANTS: Jonathan Schwartz
SUPPORTED STANDARDS: As announced in 2002 Sun indicated that the Liberty Alliance would support "Open Standards."

---

NOTE: This page is being assembled in connection with an analysis of The Laws of Identity: An Intellectual Property Perspective. If you have questions or comments please see the contact information here.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Aldo F. Castañeda