THE LAWS OF IDENTITY

Kim Cameron of Microsoft argues that the Internet needs a unifying identity layer, and that a metasystem combining multiple technologies can provide one. He states that the Internet was built without a way to know who or what one is connecting to, and that the current patchwork of ad hoc identity workarounds leaves users exposed to phishing, pharming and spyware. Cameron cites an Anti-Phishing Working Group report from February 2005 showing phishing sites growing 26% per month, and he says the diverse needs of enterprises, governments and industries make a single universal solution unrealistic. He proposes a metasystem that, like device drivers and sockets, would let identity implementations become loosely coupled.