Kim Cameron posts his fifth law of identity this evening. It’s a tall order:
The Law of Pluralism:
A universal identity system MUST channel and enable the interworking of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers.
It is this which will allow an identity ecology to emerge, evolve and self-organize.
Dave Winer’s RSS is so powerful because it vehicles any content. We need to see that identity itself will have several – perhaps many - contents, and yet these can be expressed in a metasystem.
The law of pluralism is contrary to the laws of customer control. Let’s be clear, the law of pluralism requires operating system independence–by definition. This means the Microsoft Identity Archtiect is calling for a system that is not necissarily Windows centric by design. This–of course–is the only way such a system can really work–but consider the implications.
A cross platfrom identity metasystem is sun-spot hot and–with the other laws being discussed here–changes everything.