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Posts Tagged ‘online identity’

Real Names

August 4th, 2011
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representation of choices: color (The Commons) vs black and white (Business)Danah Boyd is an insightful researcher. She just wrote a post called “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power in which she takes Google to task for their changing policies and rather abrupt practice of kicking people off of Google Plus. I agree that being arbitrary is an abuse of power when it affects people so strongly (disabling an account removes the use of all services, not just Google Plus). However, there are two kinds of power: shared, and proprietary.

Google, along with Facebook, Twitter, and in fact nearly all Internet-based services (Amazon, eBay, your Internet service provider, etc.), are proprietary. These services are run by companies that:

  1. are private or beholden to shareholders (their “business model”),
  2. have one-sided Terms of Service and Policy documents that users are required to agree to, and
  3. are based on the selective delivery of their user base to their customers (usually advertisers).

A striking characteristic of these businesses is that they have a practice of reducing things to black and white. Our chosen (registered) name “is” or “is not” really us. See Doc’s post A Sense of Bewronging for more thought on this. In a simplified (business) sense, it is an abuse of social power to declare that many of us are not who we say we are, even if we’re known to many others by our chosen registered name.

Contrast this with a shared power model, like a commons, or services that are implemented according to open standards. The underlying Internet protocols (the apache web server, sendmail, TCP/IP, etc.) are not owned by anyone, everybody can use them, and anybody can improve them. These resources are shared—no terms of service is required to use the Internet or email with any device you choose, with any compatible software, from any location that has access. “Commons” is where you can be who you are, no matter what name you go by.

Coaching moment: This may be a non-issue for some. I have friends that use their name to create a “brand” for themselves—so people will recognize them everywhere, and know what they’re about. However, that’s not an option for people in sensitive situations. Think of it this way: Everyone has a moment when they choose not to disclose some bit of information to the world. Sometimes it’s a name. That’s not a bad thing, and it should be a choice.

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Data Privacy Day 2009

January 16th, 2009
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Do you have a friend like this?

A group of organizations, including Intel, the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, several universities and government agencies, the European Commission, and lots more, have announced the second Data Privacy Day.

On January 28, 2009, the United States, Canada, and 27 European countries will celebrate Data Privacy Day together for the second time.

Designed to raise awareness and generate discussion about data privacy practices and rights, Data Privacy Day activities in the United States have included privacy professionals, corporations, government officials, and representatives, academics, and students across the country.

One of the primary goals of Data Privacy Day is to promote privacy awareness and education among teens across the United States. Data Privacy Day also serves the important purpose of furthering international collaboration and cooperation around privacy issues.

I wrote a post called Take Back Your Self that talks about why the concept of a digital self, or identity, is important to protect. I strongly support the passage of a comprehensive data privacy law, as described in Bruce Schneier’s article. But before we can get a draft for a new law going, we need to encourage a better understanding of what digital identity is all about, and why it matters to protect it.

Take a look at some of the resources available on this page to see if there is anything you can share. I’ll be blogging more as we get closer to Data Privacy Day 2009.

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Tools: chi.mp

November 27th, 2008
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Chi.mp (pronounced like the monkey) is a content hub and identity management platform that has two unique twists. First, you can get a free .mp domain that is portable, meaning you can install that domain name–and your contacts–elsewhere if you wish (though there are reasons you may not wish to). Second, they have a contacts management system in development that will allow you to implement layers of identity according to categories that you create and assign to each of your contacts.

Where do your contacts come from? They’re imported from many of other existing accounts, like Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, and Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. In fact, once you’ve identified certain accounts (Twitter, Flickr, Facebook) you can display your “feeds” (what you’ve posted on your other accounts) on your chi.mp-hosted page.

For example, check out Rob Farrow’s site (farrow.mp/). Rob is the VP of Marketing and brand czar for chi.mp. I don’t think he’ll mind if I use his site as an example here.

The left column shows tiny icons for Rob’s contacts, and below that is where to find him on the Internet and how to reach him. The right column starts with a brief bio, then shows where Rob has been active lately (his feeds). The feeds are listed according to when he posted them, so if he drops a picture on Flickr then tweets it (on Twitter), his feed column will reflect that.

Unlike Vidoop and Verisign Labs, chi.mp does not offer a function to manage everyone else’s passwords. Chi.mp takes the position that you won’t need all of these passwords as they’ll all be replaced by the ability to login using your OpenID. Your .mp domain is your OpenID.

Chi.mp is currently in beta, so getting an account (domain, access to their contact import and management tools) is limited. If you’re interested in getting hooked up, sign up to be notified when that becomes possible.

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Tools: Verisign Labs Personal Identity Portal (PIP)

November 26th, 2008
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Verisign Labs offers a beta version of Personal Identity Portal (PIP) to “manage your online identity without compromising your privacy.” Verisign, the mother ship, offers SSL certificates to make sure web sites have appropriate trust credentials. With PIP, Verisign is also boosting their “trust” model: use your PIP identity to access web sites, protect your identity, and share your profile data.

Using PIP

First, create an account with PIP. As with other identity providers, your user name becomes part of your OpenID. This account is like others: you’ll need a user name and password.

PIP offers a Firefox plugin that makes signing in to certain sites easy. Verisign says the “sites include Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many major retailers.” (Amusingly, they call it an OpenID Seatbelt. Huh? Keeping me safe in my chair?) The plugin remembers your user name, but you’ll need to provide the password when you use it.

PIP lets you create your own identity page(s). When you’re done, PIP allows you to see your OpenID page with a carousel of your various sites:

Verisign Labs PIP Personal Page

In the Help and Support area, there’s a video on setting up your personal identity page. (These guys didn’t make it easy to find more information about their service. They have an FAQ and more videos about how one click (a password manager) works in the Help and Support area.)

Once you’ve set up your various services, you have a nice carousel that people can flip through and click on to visit that site.

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