11 Identity Trends — Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium

Salvatore D’Agostino at DigitalIDNews posted an article earlier in January, 11 identity trends to watch in 2011, in which he pointed out that despite the proposed National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and the Federal Identity, Credentialing and Access Management Guidance (Draft, PDF), ”national ID programs, social networking, mobile and e-commerce are all moving out on their own.” The author’s list (with my emphasis) includes:

1. Mobile identity always has been and will continue to be the biggest game in town. Each year nearly 5 billion smart card technology subscriber identity modules are sold. And as smart phones grow in sophistication and as a result occupy an increasing percentage of user screen time they will become the most important area in the identity marketplace.

2. None of the Facebook, Google, OpenID, triad will actually manage to issue trusted identities in 2011 and consumers will continue to fail to realize they are the product and not the customer for these and many other identity providers.

7. The User Managed Access work of the Kantara Initiative will gain support as it addresses the overarching requirement of the need for user control of personal information in the era of shared infrastructure.

9. Consumers will demand the adoption and benefits of commercial off-the-shelf application software to provide privacy and identity protection of data at rest and in motion via encryption and secure channels in their day to day communications with banks, health care organizations, and other organizations even in those states where it is not mandated.

11. Identity theft and fraud will continue to grow and be subsidized by consumers via premiums, user fees and interest rates without the mandate for strong interoperable identities. And while the National Strategy for Trusted Identities will talk the talk it remains to be seen if it can walk the walk.

Coaching moment: As passive customers of digital services, we are prone to greater influence and manipulation by the system, for the benefits of the system and not for ourselves. If we wish to empower ourselves–and the commercial marketplace generally–with better and more trustworthy practices, we will need to be active and even vocal supporters of the alternatives that lead us in that preferred direction. This isn’t as scary as it might seem. It just means making certain choices more mindfully, more aware of the cost of “free.”