The Law of Human Identity–Dual Channel Architecture
If you have been following the discussion here, you know that in his blog, Kim Cameron has been putting forth the much discussed Seven Laws of Identity. Last week he defined the sixth law:
“The Law of Human Integration
The universal identity system MUST define the human user to be a component of the distributed system, integrated through unambiguous human-machine communications mechanisms offering protection against identity attacks.“
I re-read the post a few times and listened to the accompanying podcast with Kim and Carl Ellison. My take on this law is that Kim is proposing an identity system that transcends the boundaries that we normally think about when considering any service-based system. According to the sixth law, it needs to include both the channel of communications between two machines and between the user and machine. In essence a dual channel identity sytem.
A dual channel identity system is over the top. It is hard to think about let alone concieve and create.
Now I am also really curious on how this system will actually work. It would be tough enough to be a dual channel system in a single environment. But proposing that this system be cross-platform (see law number five) is almost too much. The technical and political issues to be overcome with this 7-point-system seem overwhelming. I have concerns about how all this is going to happen. But my concerns are probably unfounded.
Kim is not only a brilliant architect but a clever and able corporate politician. I have no doubt that the discussions inside Microsoft have raged on about this for a long time before this point. It’s probably close to impossible to stop this 7-point-identity-juggarnaut at this point. Doing so would change the Longhorn timeline–ain’t gonna’ happen. To stop things now would probably take nothing short of an act-of-Gates.
So kudos to Kim for the sixth law, having the chutzpa to do what you’re doing, and…I can barely wait for the seventh law.