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>]
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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
.
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