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August 8, 2001 Event
What’s In A Name: Solving The World Wide Web’s Identity Crisis
The battle for the online consumer finally has reached the wallet... the e-wallet, that is. In the last few weeks, a number of important business events have made it obvious that a major battle is brewing for the right to provide Internet users with identity services. The opportunity is vast: controlling the technology responsible for billions of e-transactions, as well as access to a massive database of consumer data. Though the Web is by its nature adaptive and chaotic, industry analysts believe a central point of control is critical to the growth of the commercial Internet. Identity services will be a key leverage point for controlling both consumers and businesses. And while most agree that the Internet would be well-served if users could store personal information in a central location, there remains heated debate over where to store that data and the technology to keep it secure.
What exactly is an identity service and who are the major players vying for its control? The simplest definition describes functionality offering consumers one place to store essential information - including names, addresses, and credit card numbers - so they can use different Web sites and purchase things online with a single login. The list of competitors includes many major consumer players (AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!) as well as various other technical behemoths (Sun, Verisign). All of these folks are gunning for the opportunity to become one of the dominant gatekeepers for a vast array of personal information. In their visions, identity services will be boons to convenience and productivity - sharing personal information per a user's instructions, automatically making doctor's appointments, buying music online, booking airline tickets and handling other tasks.
Naturally, there are plenty of thorny issues around identity services no matter which juggernaut controls the information. In the hands of large, powerful companies, the collection and handling of personal information certainly is a privacy threat. The prospects are alarming consumer groups and activists, who claim it remains unclear how the enterprises that are collecting the data will protect and share it. Critics argue that while AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo! and other companies ask consumers to trust them as guardians of their identities online, there have been breaches - many involving these very companies’ services - that raise questions about security. It is easy to imagine the potential downside: a world where every single click is watched, analyzed, and ultimately, exploited. With stakes this high, it is simply a matter of time before the competition for identity services becomes the next great Internet battle.
