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December 30, 2002

Mitch on Digital ID

Mitch Ratcliffe comments on the email thread about digital ID. Among other points:

... the basic problem with your debate [is] that it assumes the policy will be arrived at by companies bargaining with one another and, finally, once the dance of the giants is finished, offered to customers as a fait accompli. ... People own their identities and should continue to own them as they migrate into electronic environments

I don't think any of us disagree with Mitch that individuals should own their identity. I take that for granted. My concern has been more with: (1) The imposition of ID schemes top-down rather than continuing to grow bottom-up solutions to actual problems, and (2) What we would gain and lose with a strong digID system in place. The first concern sounds like it maps to Mitch's imperative ("Thou Shalt Own Thy Identity") but need not: it's conceptually possible to impose a top-down identity scheme that enables us to own our identities. It's just politically less likely since the people doing the imposing have an interest in taking custody of our IDs for us. How thoughtful of them.

Posted by D. Weinberger at December 30, 2002 10:29 AM

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