"One reader asked where our right to privacy was written down, and the short and easy answer is that it isn't, at least not specifically. Most court rulings involving privacy have come from reading between the lines, which is why so many pronouncements involving privacy are controversial." [Infoworld]

What causes further controversies is the fact that

1. the loss of customer's privacy translates almost directly into increased revenue at the merchant side
2. the concept of privacy is influenced by a culture one lives in.

9:58:13 PM    

Interesting themes from RSA Conference

1. Sep 11 has not produced real increase in demand for security except in some niches such as disaster recovery and biometrics. My experience from working in IT security services basically confirms this.
2. Host-based security is getting priority over perimeter protection.
3. Web Services are new, complicated and well, not secure

[Information Security]

9:45:31 PM    

O'Reilly's Brief on Identity

"Today's Internet may be likened to a vast neighborhood of speakeasies, its citizens boggled by the plethora of usernames and passwords they're forced to juggle. Ideally, users would pass through a single sign-on point to assume their online identity.
...
The holy grail is a unified, decentralized, simple-yet-flexible, secure, pseudonym-centric identity, membership, and preferences fabric for the Internet.
...
Online identity promises consumers convenience and control over their interactions with online destinations and with other consumers. For vendors, an identity system provides clearly-identified marketing "targets" with open online wallets. Identity providers are the real winners, poised to collect partnership fees and/or a percentage of each transaction.
...
The success of an identity system hinges on uptake.
...
We expect the emergence of a clear leader (whether player or standard remains to be seen) as more far-reaching solutions are introduced in 2002-2003. "

[O'Reilly Network]

11:56:43 AM    

Rationale Behind Passport Federation

"[Microsoft] is going to have to deal with using open standards for identity and authentication and data access and all these other pieces. Otherwise, their business is isolated to that entry point of the client, and businesses are not going to allow Microsoft to control their relationships with their customers. Customer identity is a relationship that you as a bank or a retailer have with me. My relationship is with you, not Microsoft. We need to have standards and structures that make it possible for me to have that relationship with you and vice versa and extend it and so on. It's not going to be vendor-controlled. It's just not going to happen that way."  [ZDNet]

10:54:00 AM