Two words Authentication and Identification.
Reading what Wikipedia had to say about authentication leads to an interesting array of discussions across a wide set of sciences and other social segments. The exploration led to a search for a definition of Identification:
- The act of identifying, or proving to be the same.
- The state of being identified.
- A particular instance of identifying something.
- A document or documents serving as evidence of a person’s identity.
Next exploring what Wikipedia had to say about Authentication leads to a much richer discussion aligned around the idea of assuring the truth of a particular attribute, someone is claiming to be true. Seeking to assure a degree of parallelism to the discussion:
Authentication is
- something which validates or confirms the authenticity of something
- computing proof of the identity of a userlogging on to some network
These two words: authentication and identification, some think represent the same act, yet when we bring into the conversation – privacy the two words have very different meanings.
We then have to think about the how and the what we are attempting to do.
In the physical world there are a set of situations and considerations. We will leave those for another article.
When we think about the digital world, this place were our physical presence is not present. We must find solutions that prove we are who we are without necessary needing another to vouch for our identity each time.
As a consumer we want the freedom to visit multiple sites and believe that where we visit and who we interact with is not open to all to know.
As I write, I can hear some say, all our stuff is known so why try to hide. They are correct and then they miss the concern – who knows. Not to get distracted.
Verification, a third word must enter into the discussion. In order for anything associated with only serving or sharing with a clear and identified party one needs to be able to provide Identity.