> From: Dave Crocker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> My #3 question was really 3 questions, starting with concept
> and ending with a technical detail. Since the word identity
> is quite literally central to D*I*X, the meaning of identity
> needs to be more than philosophical.
Is it possible for there to be a higher form of meaning than
philosophical meaning? I think not because the only parties qualified to
judge are philosophers.
I think that what Dave is trying to say here in imprecise fashion is
that we need to have a precise *definition* of what identity means in
the context of DIX and that this must 1) not rely on the outcome of open
philosophical questions and 2) be understood without direct recourse to
modern continental philosophers.
I believe that a useful working definition is something on the lines of:
An identity is a set of assertions concerning a particular subject
identifier.
This is certainly consistent with Dick's Id2 talk.
As far as the computer is concerned, it first authenticates 'Dick Hardt
of Sxip', as far as the computer is concerned any machine readable
identifier that binds unambiguously to 'Dick Hardt of Sxip' is
acceptable, for the sake of argument lets use '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'.
Dick's identity is now the set of statements that are bound to
identifiers for Dick:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] is Canadian
[EMAIL PROTECTED] lives in Vancouver
[EMAIL PROTECTED] is Star Alliance member 006342832
Star Alliance member 006342832 is Star Alliance Gold
[EMAIL PROTECTED] likes a bunch of (specified) sports teams
[EMAIL PROTECTED] likes a bunch of (specified) bands
[EMAIL PROTECTED] has blood group Z
[EMAIL PROTECTED] looks like this <dick.jpg>
And so on.
> > server,
> > and its uniqueness is based on its reuse of the domain namespace.
>
> ok. so, domain name, but something within the domain name
> (nonce, or whatever), to ensure uniqueness. Hence, each DNS
> administration is a sub-registry for DIX identities.
It looks to me like there is a confusion here between the identifier and
the identity. The identifier is not the identity, it is merely a
reference point around which the identity is constructed.
As the identifier is not what the relying party is actually interested
in it can in most cases be factored out:
That dude you just asked me about:
is Canadian
lives in Vancouver
is Star Alliance member 006342832
Star Alliance member 006342832 is Star Alliance Gold
likes a bunch of (specified) sports teams
likes a bunch of (specified) bands
has blood group Z
looks like this <dick.jpg>
_______________________________________________
dix mailing list
[email protected]
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dix
