Must trust Bill or bust
Cnet reports that at the annual RSA conference, Bill Gates announced Microsoft's successor to Passport. Called "InfoCards", it's built into the new OS, Vista, due out later this year. It's meant to address criticisms of its predecessor by allowing users to generate their own InfoCards, which they can use somewhere else. He gives the example of how a user can generate their own ID to use at an online car rental agency.
This is an improvement, because Passport set Microsoft up as the central authority for financial information.
So, i've thought about this problem a lot and I've come to the conclusion that there shouldn't be central authoritative information banks unless they're non-profits and their doings and dealings are completely transparent.
Any company who asserts any proprietary ownership to code used for a trust-based system or refuses to provide 3rd party review of every line of their system should not be allowed to be a trust agent in a multi-vendor environment.
It's just not safe.
First, it allows a monopoly situation to develop (again). Monopolies are not inherently bad, but monopolistic behavior sucks. The former usually progresses to the latter.
Second, it provides a single source of failure. Homogeneous information environments are like coughing at a family reunion; everyone gets sick.
Thirdly, it makes it too easy for the government to get whatever they need. If they had to subpoena every part of a decentralized, distributed network, they'd never be able to do it. It's too damn easy to waive a subpoena in front of Microsoft's nose and have them roll over again, waggling their tail and showing their naughty bits.
Posted on February 15, 2006
