New and noteworthy in online identities 1/29/09

By Ben Gross
in

Could your social networks spill your secrets?: The New Scientist summarizes current issues and problems with the overlap between social networks, the blurring lines between private and public information and data mining. Several research papers, including a recent one from Google, talk about the risks of these connections and potential mitigation of these risks.

It’s Me, and Here’s My Proof: Why Identity and Authentication Must Remain Distinct: Steve Riley a Senior Security Strategist at Microsoft gives clear and compelling reasons for why we need to separate identity—the claim of who you are from authentication—the demonstration of a secret you know, particularly in the context of biometrics.

Will 2009 Be the Year of Multiple Digital Identities?: Sonia Arrison summarizes a recent meeting of entrepreneurs and policy activists in her column for TechNewsWorld. One topic of discussion centered around people’s desires to present different personas to different sets of people. This mirrors the daily behavior of many people who keep a very professional persona at work and wish to keep a different one around their friends and do not want these personas to overlap.

Published January 30, 2009