Universal Identity

Abstract

An identity is defined as "a set of attributes relating to an entity". One entity is distinguishable from another entity on the basis of its attributes within a context. "Black hair", "glasses" and "male" are attributes that can uniquely identify one entity within a context and be called an "identifier", if another entity does not share these same attributes. The property of identity is analogous to Information Technology, as the number of user profiles we accumulate while using web services. We have a Facebook online identity, which perhaps differ from our LinkedIN identity. Multiple identities mean numerous usernames and passwords to remember. To circumvent this, many people use passwords that are easily broken, and even re-use the same password for different user profiles. Many technologies exist to help us keep track of all our user credentials. Some of the better ones allow us to use the same user profile to log in to services across security domains and combine several factor when we authenticate ourselves to the service. One of the best implementations of authentication and Identity Management comes from Mobile Networks. Perhaps, in the future a Universal Identity could incorporate such elements ?