Motivating the need for a trusted agent

1. Towards the eCitizen
MIT Media Lab
15 January 2009
Paul Trevithick
paul@azigo.com
http://incontextblog.com

2. Why an eCitizen?

3. Being carbon-based we
can’t to connect to the
Internet

4. So we work through
“user agents”
e.g. Web Browser, mail
clients, etc.

5. Problem is…

6. We don’t know who is
using which agent!

7. So anybody can claim
anything
But what’s claimed
(e.g. typed into a web form)
can’t be trusted a
priori
In other words…

8. “On the Internet, nobody knows
you’re a dog”

9. But what if dogs could
vote?

10. The dog would need a trusted
user agent that can send the
verified claim “I am a dog” on
its behalf

11. The dog would need an eDog that
can send the “I am a dog” claim
on its behalf

12. i.e. an eCitizen
[If you’re not quite
following along here]

13. Identity is
consequential
How do we protect the dog
from reprisal?

14. Verified Claims + Anonymity

15. Identity is Contextual
We present different
faces in different
contexts

16. Multiple identities

17. Around a Common
Core managed by
the eDog

18. Identity is valuable
But so is privacy

19. We need
minimal,
selective
disclosure

20. Identity is composite
and socially constructed
It’s what I say about
myself AND what others
say about me

21. Composite identities

22. Oh, and it’s my eDog
We need Zero lock-in
(e.g. open standards, competitive
ecosystem of eDog providers,
distributed architecture)

25. Requirements
• eCitizen [trusted user agent]
• Verified claims
• Identifiability AND anonymity
• Multiple identities
• Composite identities
• Core identity managed by agent
• Selective, minimal disclosure
• Zero lock-in:
– open standards,
– competitive ecosystem of eDog providers
– open source implementations
– distributed architecture