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nick,<div><br></div><div>Higher ed has long mused about third parties capable of providing a higher level of identity assurance. Banks were an obvious initial candidate, since they're already entrusted with safeguarding personal data, financial assets, and other valuables. Recent events have, um, lessened their appeal for this role in many countries' public eyes, but it still makes sense.</div><div><br></div><div>Governments are another possibility, as they already issue various identification materials for citizens, e.g. passports, but national ID schemes that encroach on being mandatory are also extremely sensitive territory.</div><div><br></div><div>A few start-ups have also dedicated themselves to identity vetting, but it's a pretty difficult market to create unless you can move in size. I'm not aware of any of these being particularly successful yet.</div><div><br></div><div>All these mechanisms rely on an ability of RP's to widely identify the OP's, e.g. banks, who are able to assert such information, and the world has 10,000+ banks. This means trust fabric and discovery need to be addressed first, or we have to settle for a few big, trusted authorities.</div><div><br></div><div>A separate but related problem is that any individual's identity data is scattered throughout hundreds of places. My university is authoritative for my student number and class enrollment, but my government is authoritative for my citizenship. Someday, federated identity will probably want to solve that problem -- attribute aggregation -- too. It's a ways off yet, though.</div><div><br></div><div>Take care,</div><div>Nate.</div><div><br><div><div>On 27 Mar 2009, at 00:47, <a href="mailto:nicholas.g.lawrence@mainroads.qld.gov.au">nicholas.g.lawrence@mainroads.qld.gov.au</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Perhaps an agency, such as a bank, be able to state with authority</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">that you are a human being?</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">It could even state that you are above a certain age.</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">This could be in addition to the normal services a bank provides.</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">nick</font></p> </blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>