We prove our physical identity with a driver's license but how do we substantiate our digital web identity? We all circulate our online user names and passwords amid the growing concern of potential privacy invasion. At O'Reilly's 2006 Emerging Technology Conference, Dick Hardt discusses Identity Management history from the cumbersome interfaces of the 1980's to the needs of today's Web 2.0 applications. His company's new SXIP 2.0 protocol for automating the exchange of identity data on the Internet offers a simple solution for access and usability of webservices.
Identity is who we and what we are conveyed by what we say about ourselves. Digital identity is the information we fill in when we register anywhere online. There is a necessary trust between sites; the identity provider has all the data and the service provider wants that identity data. But what choice does the user have? Identity 2.0 is a user-centric model that lets the user provide information to a credential provider allowing for scaleable flexibility. In his talk, Hardt explains the in-depth workings of his technology.
Dick Hardt is a pioneer in the Internet sector and open source software community. He has been active in software development for nearly two decades. His most recent venture, Sxip Identity (pronounced skip), provides enterprise identity management solutions for on-demand applications that leverage the power of Identity 2.0.
His first commercial software work started in 1986 at Consumers Software where he ported one of the first LAN email packages, the Network Courier, to Windows 1.03. He later joined Paradigm Development, which did software consulting for firms such as Aldus, Adobe, and Microsoft. In 1993, Hardt connected Paradigm to the Internet and later founded hip Communications, which became one of the larger web development and hosting companies in western Canada. While running hip, Hardt led the port of Perl 5 to the Windows platform, which resulted in an interest in open source software.
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