Digital ID at PlaNetwork

Reading about the latest in digital id standard proposals at PlaNetWork, and afflicted with the usual skepticism, well articulated by John Beatty.
I just don’t think that the big need is for universal single sign-on — whether we’re talking about corporate schemes, or touchier-feelier, better-intended open standards proposals from IDCommons and friends.
I think that there’s a big opportunity to develop design patterns for private and public spaces, supporting:
* progressive disclosure — create things in smaller groups, and share them with more people
* intimacy gradients — enabling groups to create more private and more public spaces
* easy group-forming, with socially congenial invitations
These design patterns are different from the more familiar:
* targeted marketing — a corporation snags your ID and tries to sell you stuff
* access control — how an organization restricts access to resources
I’m glad that someone is working on the standard for representing ID and enabling interoperability, and will be happy to use something standard when it exists.
I’m more interested in the design of the living room, front porch, and block party, than in coming up with a standard for front door locks.

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