[governance] identity - an IG-related issue that crosses boundaries

[Garth Graham]

Shortly after stumbling into the global conversation on IG, I began  
to say something in my attempts to synthesis that conversation for  
the community networking groups I work with.  I began to say that, in  
the longer term, "Internet governance is not about governance 'of'  
the Internet. It's governance 'by' the Internet."  In winkling out  
examples of what I meant by that, today I encountered the following  
excellent presentation on a key governance issue  - the expression of  
identity:

Identity 2.0, by Dick Hardt, Founder & CEO, Sxip Identity, O'Reilly  
Open Source convention, August 4, 2005.
http://www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/

"...as the online world moves towards Web 2.0, the concept of digital  
identity is evolving and existing identity systems are faltering. New  
systems are emerging that center identity around the user instead of  
a directory,..."

Hardt is making a prediction that simple and open "user centric"  
identity is inevitable.  If anything is close to the heart of IG in  
the sense that I meant, it's the issue of how participation in an  
online world changes our personal need to control the expression of  
identity.  If Hardt is right (and I hope he is), then beyond IG Forum/ 
Caucus process issues, identity is an issue where civil society  
voices from within the Information Society must play a strong  
advocacy role.

GG
Telecommunities Canada
_______________________________________________
governance mailing list
governance at lists.cpsr.org
https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance