Yearly Archives: 2017

Aadhaar: digital identity writ large in India

India has forged new ground in digital infrastructure with its IndiaStack [1] initiative and Aadhaar, the biometric identity system at its core. Aadhaar is the largest state-sponsored digital identity system in the world. With over 1.1 billion Indian residents enrolled, … Continue reading

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How Identity Can Enable A People-Centered Internet

Understanding Identity through Function This is the second of a regular column on Identity for the People Centered Internet. In the first column, I introduced the idea of Functional Identity as a way for ordinary people to discuss identity, with … Continue reading

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Ten Years Later

Ten years ago I wrote a blog post that captured a key architectural insight at the core of VRM: putting the user at the center of integration not only improves the quality of services, it simplifies our systems. The article captured the gestalt of VRM and helped catalyze a range of conversations that still shape the VRM approach.

Since then, we have seen a lot of progress. Here are a few standout examples. Continue reading

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Speaking of Identity

Identity is one of the most important constructs of society. It’s also one of the hardest to discuss. It is how we keep track of people and things and, in turn, how they keep track of us. When we build identity systems without a core understanding of identity, we risk inadvertently compromising human dignity.
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Detail is the enemy

Rigor is your friend. When defining the requirements for a system, its best to avoid detail and focus on rigor instead. Endless prescriptive details are the bane of good requirements. What to do or not do. Features. Capabilities. Constraints. So … Continue reading

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