KANZ 2014 was a most interesting conference. The three topics covered were all of interest to me and I learned a lot. The contrast between the Korean Approach and the Australian and New Zealand Approach helped us understand the issues.
The first topic was Digital Identity and Digital Money. The, not surprising, consensus was that Identity is key to the transfer of value. The technologies for the transfer of value that are being adopted are the ones that provide the most convenience to the user. The major retailer in Australia has almost all its transactions with one form or other of card and the tap card is now the most common method of payment for retail transactions. While cash is not dead it is dying.
Using the phone for payments will only become important when it is as convenient as tapping a card on a device and then pressing a key to agree to the transaction. The implications of this for identity systems is that the device is the credential for payments and hence we will inevitably use it for other identity needs. That is, identity is established by the possession of devices.
Of most interest to me was the seeming acceptance that the spread of information without control is inevitable. While ever organisations are responsible for the security of information I agree with that conclusion. However, what was surprising was the lack of understanding of what giving individuals control over the release of their own data will bring and how we must depend on social conventions, not technology, to enhance privacy. As a side note the personal information of every Korean including their credit card numbers was stolen last year. This shows the vulnerability of centralised single identity systems.
I was questioned on "how many identities a person should have". My answer that the number of identities we should have depends on the number of entities with whom we interact was not understood as people think of Social Identities etc. not peer to peer identities.
The second stream on Optimizing Technology Start-Ups concentrated on equity funding of Start-Ups. It was very clear that the regulatory hurdles and the inevitability of major Crowding Funding through Equity scandals makes Crowd Funding Equity likely to be a short term phenomena. In contrast Crowd Funding through a share in the Output is likely to continue to be the most common method. This confirms our approach of a generalised PrePayments as the vehicle for Crowd Funding through sharing in the Output rather than in Sharing in the Means of Output.
The third stream was on Sensing, Saas and the Internet of Everything. This was the most interesting and what was fascinating was the rebuilding of ChristChurch as a Sensing City. Here it was not just the obvious CTV cameras but it was building sensors into sidewalks, sewerage, and air. Air quality measurement is being Crowd Sourced. Modified asthma puffers are distributed to children so that they could measure the air quality as they moved around and the results are transmitted to a central location.
There was some concern over the use of sensors for surveillance. The Koreans are building whole cities with surveillance justified for crime prevention. What was interesting was that the surveillance activation was "Crowd Sourced". That is, although the cameras were recording not much notice was taken until someone "in the crowd" said there was something to be looked at. The approach has dramatically reduced crime when it is introduced.
Kevin