This CNet story about a federal proposal to have ISPs log all online activities is nothing more than a brute force solution to the Net's identity problem.
One thing that Phil and I have been discussing for (literally) years now is the worry that we (by "we" i mean "the industry") won't come up with viable solutions fast enough and it will lead us down some horrible, brute force legislative road that we'll end up course-correcting over a longer period of time.
That worry is why proposal like the Identity Metasystem are good for technology as a whole -- not only do they focus the discussion, but they keep the industry moving forward toward a solution.
And all of this begs the question: who will crack the nut to true end-user identity? That is a billion-dollar answer.
Posted by ejnorlin at June 16, 2005 06:58 AM