Closed Identity

The centralization of online identity angers me for two reasons.

First, centralization concentrates power and we all know how that goes. It’s also brittle and I really, really want the global internet to be as resilient as possible.

Second, I spent so much effort around 2007 trying to convince my telecom clients they needed to get to this first by capitalizing on the dwindling social weight of phone numbers with a transition path. But executives in both shrugged with “Facebook is just a website.”

Neither my socialist nor capitalist side can win.