RFC 2119

My son's instructions to his Grandmother for feeding pets

My feelings for the rodent is such that I think of their care and feeding more as a 'best practice', rather than a normative MUST.

I admit defeat

and defer to the marketing folks

Metasystem == Infocards

I can't say I'm surprised, I lost on 'user-centric' as well.

Here is the next installment in our series of ID quizzes,

Take the number of vaguely standardsy groups that touch on identity that Nortel won't sign up to. Multiply that number by 2. Add 3.14159. Subtract 2.7183. Divide that value into the number of current identity initiatives that claim 'interoperability' as their focus.

Answer?

Still human (after all these years)

Sirius Canada places a captcha on each authentication.

Identity (org) Silos

From the VRM Workshop, a pic from Doc of Brett laying out the organizational and logistical issues associated with the '1 protocol, 1 org' silo model for identity organizations (e.g. Liberty, OpenID Foundation, Infocard Foundation, OAuth, etc)

And the Venn lives on

Brush with fame

A conversation between myself and a (Canadian) rock-star whose cottage happens to be near mine, as he biked by on his daughter's bike

RS: Hey there Brother Man (this apparently is a typical rock star salutation )
Me: Brother Man
RS: How do you like my bike?
Me: If it only had pink streamers, it'd be perfect.

Content with my mockery of someone more famous & rich, I slept well that night.

IDDY 2008

The Liberty Alliance announced the winners of this years IDDY awards today.

Aetna – Aetna received a 2008 IDDY Deployment Award for an externally hosted online provider portal used for linking healthcare providers with health plans. Working with NaviMedix, the portal includes a variety of tools including transactions and content hosted by Aetna with interfaces to third-party Internet Application Service Providers and Content Service Providers. The deployment was launched in the US in December 2007 and is currently utilized by healthcare providers in all 50 states.
Citi – Citi’s Global Transaction Services received a 2008 IDDY Deployment Award for providing managed identity services that help institutional clients utilize digital credentials and signature technologies in a comprehensive and legally binding manner. Citi is both a Credential Service Provider and a Relying Party as defined in the Liberty Identity Assurance Framework (IAF). As a trusted financial services provider to the world’s top corporations and governments in more than 100 countries, Citi is addressing identity challenges in establishing trust in B2B and B2G identity-enabled transactions by coupling rigorous internal processes with proven identity management technologies.
Deutsche Telekom AG - Deutsche Telekom AG received a 2008 Multi-Protocol IDDY Award for its identity application designed to lower implementation barriers when it comes to the delivery of Online/IP-based services to consumers. Initially launched in 2002 and winner of the 2006 IDDY Award, the application has been steadily enhanced to offer multi-protocol capabilities for service provider interfaces as well as for authentication methods and automatic user identification. The application serves the requirements of the mass market for Online/IP-based consumer applications by providing fundamental functionalities such as Single Login, Automatic identification, Single Sign On and Single Logout.
UNINETT – UNINETT received a 2008 Emerging Application IDDY Award for SimpleSAMLphp, an open source lightweight implementation of several federation protocols written in PHP. Free to download and available in 15 languages, simpleSAMLphp is a platform for quick implementation of emerging standards or identity-enabled proof-of concept (POC) applications. The software implements Web SSO, and can be applied in any deployment where users need to be authenticated to a World Wide Web Service.

 Here is an ID quiz for you. By my copying huge swaths of the press release here, what well-known identity blogger am I channeling? Anyone? Anyone?

Getting from A to B

In 'The Discovers', Daniel J. Boorstin describes the process by which 14th & 15th century sailors of the North Sea and Baltic transitioned from their tried and true navigational method of depth sounding to the new-fangled magnetic compass.

Much of their sailing was in shallow waters where sailors had long since been finding their way by feeling their way along the bottom....  Their soundings traced the shape and character of the floor of the sea by "lead and line".... After the compass arrived, pilots off the north European coasts still felt more secure when they could combine the new device with their old reliable lead and line.

Hmmm.

A different approach to interoperability across launguage boundaries

In contrast to Concordia.

End of an Era

I am saddened to report that we have decided to end-of-life TrayTable. Changing market conditions forced us to re-evaluate our business plan (actually absence thereof). Bottom line, we were unable to compete against the multitude of low cost 'photo blogs of airline tray tables' coming out of China.

With the low wages they pay their employees and lack of concern for the environmental impact of their blogging, Chinese 'photo blogs of airline tray tables' were able to undercut TrayTable on every RFQ we bid on.

It was a good run.

I am happy to report that the last post features me reclining in one of Air Canada's new business class seats.

I am embarrased to report that the pic captured me wearing those socks from the free kit.

The Sheraton it ain't

Two things made last week's trip to Stockholm for Liberty Alliance meetings stand-out from a typical business trip.

Firstly, Sampo and I were unable to synchronize our time/space continuua to meet at Kapellskar  to go sailing. Consequently, I spent the first night of the trip in a lovely cabin at a nearby campground.

Quaint yes. But unreliable wireless connectivity. And I can't believe I'm the first person to ever ask for an extra mint from the turn-down service.  

Secondly, Fulup, Joni, and I were later able to get out on Sampo's boat to spend an incredible day sailing in the Swedish Archipelago.

I am proud to add the Baltic to my 'Bodies of Water into which I've Peed' list.

I spake as a child, I understood as a child ...

I have 3 children, ranging in age from 5 to 11.

With the youngest, I can sometimes get away with the 'Because I Said So' model of parenting.

Me: Clean up your room
5yr: Why?
Me: Because I said so.

Not so for the older ones. They constantly question my authority, and I have to justify my decisions to them.

Me: Clean up your room
11yr: Why?
Me: Because I can't find your little sister.

All this justifying of decisions is tiresome (it would be much simpler if they all just accepted my authority without question like my wife does).

As for tired parents, the 'Because I Say So' model for claimed authority is undeniably easier for an IDP than actually having to justify your decisions and actions. But most RPs, like all children, do grow up eventually.

Green identity

I'd like one of these for my identity.

Flip a single switch, and globally turn off identity sharing.

'Reduce, reuse, recycle' is actually a pretty good mantra for identity privacy.

Reduce corresponds nicely to minimal disclosure (i.e. reduce the amount of PII used in any transaction to only that necessary), reuse corresponds to controlled attribute sharing (i.e. reuse identity attributes stored in one network location at other locations/applications).

Not sure what it would mean to recycle identity ....

SPML lives!

This rebate voucher from Air Canada rewards customers should a flight not support SPML.

Somebody at Air Canada must have been influenced by the powerful SPML lobby.

I resemble that comment

In an admirably succint post, Jeff mocks both OASIS's finances and Liberty Alliance's (seemingly profligate) travel model.

I can't speak to the OASIS barb and, as I'm currently in Stockholm (discussing the agenda for the upcoming Tokyo meeting), will have to defend against the ridiculous Liberty accusation at some later time.

Physical metadata (or advertising language capabilities)

I don't disresemble the Swedes - my Danish ancestry (and a likely history of Viking raid-enabled intermarriage) at work. Consequently, it's not unreasonable for a Swede (e.g. a waitress, etc), on assessing my ability to speak their language when they first size me up, to err on the positive side.

In Sweden my actual language abilities do not match my advertised abilities, as expressed by my physical metadata.

This is not the case in Japan. There, my appearance (facial and otherwise) advertises a probable inability to speak Nihongo - which (except for an a freakish skill at asking where Ibiya Street is), is correct.

In Japan, my actual language abilities match my advertised abilities, as expressed by my physical metadata.

Happy 4th to the Latitudinally Challenged

A US holiday for working Canadians can be surreal - you get this eerie silence from the lower provinces.

Jag heter Paul

Vad heter du?

Off to Stockholm next week for a Liberty Alliance meeting.

Tabako no pasupōto

Taspo (tobacco passport) is a Japanese age verification card for the purchase of cigarettes.

As far as I can tell, the cards don't actually indicate the user's age - unless the information on the card passed to the readers doesn't match what is printed externally.

Taspo phones will surely follow.

Smokers without a Taspo card either buy their smokes in person or use a special machine equipped with face-recognition systems.