[governance] Proposed theme: user centric digital identity

Milton Mueller Mueller at syr.edu
Wed Mar 22 15:19:43 EST 2006


I want to commend Garth Graham for proposing to put digital identity on the agenda. This is one of the most important cross-cutting issues and an emergent issue of great consequence. It would be a good sign if the Forum were far-sighted enough to take a look at this in its initial sessions. Probably it won't be. Like the concept of "Internet governance" itself in 2003-2004, I have learned that disucssions of digital identity draw blank, uncomprehending stares from more than half the people I mention it to. If this does not get on the first agenda, let us keep it in mind for future sessions, and (if IGF structure permits) form a working group around it. 

one other point below:

>>> Garth Graham <garth.graham at telus.net> 3/21/2006 11:42 AM >>>
>ISSUE: User centric digital identity
>
>a.  A concise formulation for the proposed theme
>
>How can the IGF assist in finding the support that is needed both for  
>new systems of digital identity that center identity around the user  
>and for open public participation in their design and application?

I would hope to modify this particular formulation, as I don't think "open public participation in the design" of ID technologies will necessarily make things any better or is the most strategic point of intervention. I think we need to be more focused on establishing policy criteria for adoption and implementation of designs, and on understanding the way designs interact with policy issues around privacy/anonymity, surveillance, control, user-centered vs. control-centered implementations, etc. Many people have been misled by Lessig's "code is law" concept into thinking that if we politicize and participate in design phases of technology that somehow all the policy issues will come out better. I don't agree. Many of the policy issues are not fully understood during the design phase and in fact *cannot* be fully understood at that phase, due to unintended and unanticipated consequences and the complexity of social interactions. Rather than buying into the deterministic, "code!
  is law" perspective, we need to accept the fact that "law is law" and that "possession is 9/10th of the law" and learn more about how designs, industrial organization, users and policies interact. This would pave the way for a critical perspective on the impending adoption and implementation of digital ID systems and permit the formulation of well-informed rules and policies to globally govern those systems.





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