RE: [projectvrm] Principles, personalities, anonymity and identit y

["Crosbie Fitch" < >]

From: Adrian Gropper
>To state the obvious, banks, telcos, the us postal service,
>Google and Facebook are in a position to act as identity 
>providers in an economically sustainable way but with 
>various undesirable side-effects.
>       
>Are we simply hoping for them all to be using the same 
>standard so as to enable the citizen to move their identity 
>at will?

What, like we might hope for Sony, JVC, Toshiba, Philips, et al to adopt the
same a/v standards?

As for 'Move their identity', that makes about as much sense as 'Move their
shadow'.

That we look to corporations to provide us with everything, not just
consumables, makes us worse than consumers. It makes us parasites - not
independently viable.

We used to have identities and reputations long before the Internet, even
before passport and driving license administrations, and we didn't then have
to register for an 'identity' with a '3rd party identity provider'. We used
what we'd now describe (pejoratively) as a peer-to-peer identity system.

The Internet doesn't change anything, but it does create opportunities for
profiteering charlatans to persuade us that we need them to provide each of
us with an identity and reputation (credit rating).

A 3rd party identity provider makes about as much sense as a 3rd party
arsehole provider.