At MashupCamp 6 I lead a session about Data Sharing. Asking what is the scope of this problem. Dusty created this diagram from the session. I am going to take the Whiteboard and translate it into a diagram shortly. This conversation could have gone on for at least another hour. It is a big elephant and I hope we can get clearer on it and solve some of the problems at the Data Sharing events.
Will consumers GAS (give a shitake)? Will they participate? Will they invest the time and effort to share data? Tools upon tools upon tools will separate the consumer further from their data and further from control…I think. Trust built though privacy first…then possibly controlled data sharing. We’ll be watching your developments.
In the words of Yoda: ‘cloudy the future of consumer controlled data sharing is!’
Hi,
I don’t get a lot of time to attend your gatherings but I am very actively working to reach similar goals and provide a unique identity system. I would like to consider the views of everyone in our provision of a global ID solution and would like to understand yours. I am, of course, very confident that our solution will become the standard.
We believe any solution must::
1. provide Anonymous Identity – where you can prove that you have an ‘identity’ without having to provide the details or personally identifiable data unless you choose too.
2. NOT use a central database of identity details or personal data nor ever transmit personal data.
3. be as close to free as possible (small profit for my company).
4. be practical to deploy and be ubiquitous.
5 suit all purposes, online and in the street.
6. be easy for citizens to enroll and use (we can enroll millions per minute}.
7. be independent of all governments
We started with these and other rules before we looked at designing a system and now have a realistic solution to identity and authentication which does not require any personal or identifiable data to pass between parties whether they are transacting ID, money of information.
The solution is low cost and ubiquitous, ie there are 3.3 billion mobile phones out there so we chose the mobile as the device to communicate authentication. The process will work with any communications device. The cost per authentication is lower than any alternative and the use of resources is the absolute minimal, ie energy, materials, (you already have a phone), time etc.
I am currently encouraging businesses to explore how they could give away free phones to those who may not have one. There are other advantages of this approach in the developing nations for education, commerce etc. I occasionally blog ( http://www.finextra.com/community/Fullblog.aspx?id=1146) and talk a lot, however I have not been able to spare the time to attend ID summits. Any solution will require a profitable business model, access to funds, and government support so I generally hang out with bankers, politicians and spooks.
Unlike Mr Gates, the phone number is NOT your ‘identity’ and you are never required to provide it to any party you are seeking to identify yourself to.
We also have anonymous money transactions over the internet and in the street using the mobile, and have finished testing our ubiquitous media interaction/buy/transaction system which works with every channel and also provides anonymity when asking for information about advertised products and services or even the content of a program on Radio. TV Cable etc.
One of the notable feature of the system is that no-one needs to change the way they do things now (ie no database consolidation required by governments or business to enjoy the benefits – in fact it’s safer if you have the data in separate places), and even loss of mobile phone or personal data will not enable fraud or ID theft, once you are on the system. The system has many unique IP sensitive features which result in a secure, low cost, portable, renewable, privacy improving, and very easy to use ID verification system.
Before you make any assumption that we are doing anything remotely like anyone else has ever thought of, we aren’t. Comprehensive searches of patents, academic articles and the internet has not uncovered a similar methodology. Risk? The former EX Dir of Risk and Analytics at one of the world most successful banks left the bank to join our company as soon as he experienced the solution and all those who have been provided with the details under NDA’s have pulled out their cheque books and/or their resumes.
How do you feel about the idea of using your mobile phone to prove you have an identity, drivers license, and make purchases etc?
If you were absolutely convinced that it was the safest possible solution (remember practicality here) would you choose to use it?
Is anonymity important to you in some circumstances and would you like to be able to choose when to be anonymous, but still ‘use’ your ID i.e. prove you are old enough to enter a bar?
Would you feel safer performing transactions on the internet and in the street if no personal or account information was ever transmitted to any other party during the process?
Would you be prepared to carry out an automated 2 minute setup process to enjoy the benefits above? (no software downloads, or call costs involved in setup).
How much would you be prepared to pay per authentication or transaction?
Would you be prepared to involve your mobile phone in authenticating yourself to a Social Networking site if the site never had your number or any personal details other than those you chose to make public?
We have been busy with this for some time and we have an integrated system which also provides functionality beyond what I can tell you here.
The solution will work globally with every model of mobile phone and network, is exceptionally scalable and we are currently scaling to ‘around millions’ of transactions per second.
The process easily integrates into any existing business or information processes and no new infrastructure is required by anyone. merchant, bank, business, website or end user.
We are a privately owned and funded company, We have chosen not to sell outright to one of the worlds biggest banks and want to see everyone get the benefits, and probably make more profits. I believe identity is essential infrastructure for civilisation.
If you could answer my questions (without obligation and without giving us any rights to quote you, merely for internal product improvement – see our privacy notice http://www.transinteract.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=48 – we mean it!) I would be very appreciative, If you have any ideas or think we may have missed something, all contributions will be fairly credited and rewarded.
We are not open source however we have an open access user pays model – that is – the service will be available everywhere to everyone at the same price, excepting possibly free for charities(not churches) and those whose economic circumstances preclude it (could include whole countries). One of my personal ‘pet projects is that if you can ID yourself using your mobile phone you can vote with it. Could be useful in some countries where they have forgotten or never had democracy.
I’d love to hear your views.
Best regards,
Dean Procter