(I can misquote too Mark!)

The announcement of Facebook Connect brings another player to the identity provider space.

One of the interesting things about the announcement is the claim that it allows you to ‘leverage your real identity across the web in a trusted environment’. Hang on, my real identity in my facebook profile?? I don’t think so.

Many of these issues were discussed in the identity session at the JISC Innovation Forum last week. There are many complexities around the issues of your identifier, your identity, and the personas you use as part of that identity, and I’m not sure that a Facebook profile is a sensible starting point to establish ‘real identity’.

As pointed out in the session, many people provide inaccurate information on their facebook profile as they do not want this information to be publicly broadcast. Kim Cameron has previously pointed out the complexities of being economical with the truth about your date on birth in online profiles. Attendees at the session also pointed out that they often lied about the information provided in security questions for banks etc. (which pretend mother’s maiden name did I use??) so that relying on user provided information as reality can be fraught.

Facebook also provides a false interpretation of your identity by the limitations in how you can describe your relationships with people and applications. You are always a friend or a fan, as Paul Walk has pointed out.

So who can we turn to in order to provide trusted information about real identities in a meaningful and secure way, complying with data protection issues but also providing information that results in a useful service? I still think the role of a trusted broker of this information is very important for end-users and that educational institutions can continue to play a part in this space for their members and affiliates. It will be interesting to see what part as the user-centric identity space grows.