Von Ralf Keuper

Im Jahr 2005 verfasste Microsofts Chef Architekt für Identitätssysteme, Kim Cameron, seinen Beitrag The Laws of Identity. Cameron stellte darin die Frage, warum es so schwierig ist, einen Identity Layer für das Internet zu bauen, wobei er die Frage umgehend selbst beantwortete:

Why is it so hard to create an identity layer for the Internet? Mainly because there is little agreement on what it should be and how it should be run. This lack of agreement arises because digital identity is related to context, and the Internet, while being a single technical framework, is experienced through a thousand kinds of content in at least as many different contexts – all of which flourish on top of that underlying framework. The players involved in any one of these contexts want to control digital identity as it impacts them, in many cases wanting to prevent spillover from their context to any other.

Mittlerweile, so Phil Windley in seinem aktuellen Beitrag The Laws of Identity stehe eine Lösung zur Verfügung, die alle Anforderungen, die Cameron einst definierte, erfüllt: Sovrin.