Federations A Federation provides a standard, pre-negotiated set of contracts that allow organizations to recognize identities issued by one another. A federation agreement might specify user roles, governance, security and verification policies, or specific technical methods. The federation is organized around a Contract Hub, which is responsible for the agreements. Organizations with similar goals or […]
Field Guide
Mesh Federation
22 October 2013 by
Mesh Federation A Mesh Federation provides a legal and policy umbrella so that institutions can interact with one another but does not specify technical methods. Each member organization issues digital identities for its people and the federation agreement provides the legal framework for them to use one another’s resources. The federation agreement might specify governance, […]
Peer-to-Peer Trust and Identity
22 October 2013 by
Peer-to-Peer Identity When no central identity provider or governance agreement is present, participants assert their own identities and each individual decides who they trust and who they do not. Each participant is a peer with equal standing and each can communicate with anyone else in the network. Examples: The most familiar peer-to-peer network is probably […]
Centralized Token Issuance, Distributed Enrollment
22 October 2013 by
A special case peer-to-peer network. Participants want to establish trusted identities that can be used securely for ongoing, high-value communication among organizations. A trusted, central provider issues identity tokens which are then enrolled independently by each service provider. Service providers are not required to cooperate or accept one another’s enrollments. Examples: The most common examples […]