David Weinberger's Intranet Buzz:
Identity And Self

In an Everyone But Microsoft move, Sun and 32 other companies (including Cisco, Intuit, Bank of America, GM and eBay) this fall created The Liberty Alliance. (Apparently they're using the same marketing consultants that came up with the name "Homeland Defense Agency.") The Alliance is trying to provide an alternative to Microsoft Passport, an insidious plan to make Microsoft the keeper of the information that defines us as individuals on the Internet. Both plans provide a service by which a site can automatically get at our name, birth date, credit card numbers, shoe size, and any other information we choose to let them see. This will make it possible to do a single login that will work with any site that supports the service, will make it more convenient to buy stuff over the Net and will make it possible for agencies to interoperate in our own best interests -- but, of course, also makes everyone's pee smell like asparagus when we contemplate the ways this information could be used against us. To add to the general anxiety about confiding this information to the the eminently hackable Windows software suite, Windows XP comes close to coercing the information out of us by making it sound as if accepting Passport is a requirement for surfing the Web.

There are differences among the proposals other than that one comes from Microsoft and one doesn't. Passport is a service; the Liberty Alliance is a standard. Microsoft, under the pressure of approbation, has agreed to let third parties manage the Passport database; Liberty Alliance members would store user identification information on their own servers, a far more decentralized approach. In fact, Microsoft has said it will consider joining the Liberty Alliance. (Of course, they're insisting that the name be changed to Liberty Alliance XP.)

Now, no matter how this works out -- and how could you not root for the consortium? -- we should keep in mind that what's good for identity may be bad for self. "Identity" is a quasi-legal term that lets your virtual transactions be tied back to your real- world self: the person who just ordered the bootylicious skin creme was born in a particular year at a particular locale, lives at a particular street address, and has a particular credit card number. We want to have one identity on the Web while we are out constructing many selves -- the sage on one discussion list, the wise-ass in a chat room, and the killing machine in a Quake III fragfest. Insofar as we think our playful Web selves can be tied back to our legally-binding identity, our Web selves will be inhibited, chagrined or even rather ashamed of themselves. Identity is grown up; Web-self is childlike. Identity is superego; Web- self is id. Identity is business; Web-self is play. Identity is physics; Web-self is art.

Let's be thankful that so far Microsoft is only threatening to own our identities. When it launches a product called Microsoft SoulServer that talks about managing our Web selves, it will truly be time to flee.

[NOTE: An alert pre-reader informs us that the truly sinister power behind the Liberty Alliance can be glimpsed by going to <http://www.libertyalliance.org>. If, however, you want actual information about the Alliance, you must go to <http://www.projectliberty.org>]

The Author

David Weinberger writes JOHO and is one of the Ringleaders of cluetrain.com, a manifesto of web ethics. He also provides strategic marketing consulting to high-tech companies, writes for several magazines (including Wired) and is a commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered." He was, as VP of Strategic Marketing, one of the shapers of Open Text's intranet strategy. David sits on several conference boards and is a member of AIIM's Emerging Technology Advisory Group. Reach him at self@evident.com.