Identity Chaos

The holidays have certainly stirred things up in my life.  And, with all the changes happening at BMC in social media and IT, it's been busier than ever for me.  But, there is one thing that has me particularly peeved on top of my busy schedule.  That is -- the ongoing question -- WHO AM I?

I know who I am.  My family knows who I am.  My employer knows me...and so do my friends.  I hope the readers of this blog and the audience who listens to my podcasts understand a bit about me.  But, when it comes to my computer...it doesn't seem to really know me at all.

Who am I to this piece of hardware?  And, how does it relay that to all the sites I visit as I wind my way through a regular digital day? 

I am no one.

No.  Wait.  I am 38 people.  So far.

Between access to Web applications for work, the travel I do, the audio and media I upload, and the site access I need to do personal (but necessary) things like banking -- I've had to build a spreadsheet to keep up with all my usernames, passwords, account IDs, billing numbers, PINs, and etc.  Guess what?  I'm managing 38 different identities.  In a spreadsheet. 

Enough is enough.

It's time that identity became portable and easy.

To quote from the Six-Million Dollar Man:  "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first" portable identity.

OK, that last part was added by me.

I've interviewed several people about Identity Management and related topics.  And, I hungrily consume Jeff Bohren's blog.  It isn't just that he's an Identity Management Expert.  He mixes it up.  He's controversial.  He makes me think.  And, he's the most prolific blogger on TalkBMC in terms of number of entries per unit of time.  Thanks Jeff!

So, solve this problem, but add something else to it.  Add a reputation or authority ranking to that so strangers understand that I have credibility when I meet them.  Think how much this might help (or hurt) political candidates...An authority ranking would allow us to know so much more about the candidates before we have to vote for them.  Right now, we're just watching them kiss babies for a year-and-a-half on TV, with maybe a debate or two thrown in, before we have to go to the polling booths and cast our votes.

Let's stop being strangers.  Portable identity.  Portable reputation/authority.  Now, you know who I am.