Many have predicted 2008 to be the year where internet identity management would finally take off. Based upon what has happened so far, it it very likely that this prediction will be fulfilled.

In February Google, IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo and Verisign all demonstrated their support of OpenID by joining the board of the OpenID Foundation. In Europe and Japan there are also strong efforts to promote OpenID. I am looking forward to participate in these efforts as of today I have become the OpenID Europe Danish Representative.

Another indicator of the expectations to the identity management market are the aquisitions that took place in March. Ping Identity aquired Access Manager from Sxip, that will now focus on the consumer market. In the enterprise segment IBM aquired Encentuate. But probably most important for the future development of identity management was Microsofts acquisition of Credentica with its patented privacy technologies “U-prove”, that Microsoft intends to integrate with its Cardspace technology.

As important as Microsofts acquisition of Credentica may seem from a theoretical standpoint, it is still doubtful whether it will have any real impact on consumer privacy during the next 10 years. Linkable attributes as email addresses, phone numbers and postal addresses do not disappear overnight. Neither does third party tracking of cell phone locations. But the mere availability of this privacy technology with a powerful industry player may spur the discussion of privacy issues and facilitate relevant legal initiatives. This may in turn lead to changes in vendor and consumer attitudes and behaviour.

In theory U-prove provides an edge compared to other solutions in managing information on a “need to know” basis. But this author is convinced that the major potential for privacy enhancements lies in reducing the perceived “need” by changing current business practices and consumer attitudes. We will probably witness several initiatives in this area during 2008, while it may take years for most vendors and consumers to adopt such new practices.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 22:31 and is filed under Identity, Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.