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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scott C. Lemon who wrote (30345)	2/16/2000 9:24:00 AM
From: ToySoldier	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Scott, I truly enjoy listening to these conversations of the next evolution of directories. You and I have had these discussions before. I agree in theory that the ultimate goal and dream would be for each individual to hold the definitive repository of his/her/its identify data. I still see many practical limitations and obstacles that need to be addressed before this evolution becomes reality (not to say that these hurdles cannot eventually be overcome). One of the major issues I still see is that - similar to human nature - data that is loosely replicated on a "whenever I feel like it or whenever I remember" basis becomes outdated. This is a problem now even in the business world as well as the general public - AND far from perfect. Humans have evolved into the chipmunks of data collection and dissemination world. What the hell do I mean by that - you ask? Well, when a chipmunk collects its personal store of nuts it buries these nuts in hiding places all around its roaming territory (to protect it from others). One big problem, poor little chipmunk forgets where he/she hides or placed more than half of them. Mr. Chipmunk can still get by with the nuts he remembers but wouldnt it be nice if Mr. Chipmunk could place them all in one or at most a few secured locations where he knows where they are? Of course this has its issues as well (fault tolerance of food supplies) but IF HE COULD BE ASSURED OF security of his stores.... Humans have evolved the same way with personal identity build-up and dissemination and the Internet has magnified this problem in several orders of magnitude! How can we get better control of the data we collect AND ensure that we know where we have handed it out and how we can keep it up-to-date or even revoke it when we need to? With the model you are describing and I am understanding, if I were the master of my personal identity store and I decide who, when, where, how I replicate my data out into the big bad world, I will be like hte poor chipmunk, I will eventually forget where I placed replicas of my data. I will let data get old - even though I had no intentions for that to happen. I will not be able to revoke other's access to data that I have previously granted. I will not have my data accessible to me where and when I want at a moments notice - UNLESS I develop and maintain a personal "always available to the net" central data store that I could access. I will also have to ensure that this definitive personal data store at home is well protected and secured (i.e. a new form of crime starts where the thief breaks into your home and steals your idenitity store and holds it hostage - just a wild thought). Again, much of this could very well be addressed in some means - BUT it must be done in a manner whereby anyone with the most limited understanding of technology could handle the process. (Not all of us in society will have the smarts to run a personal ISP in their residence). It will have to be an elegant simple solution, otherwise I see an opportunity for trust personal identity maintenance storage outsourcers come into the light. Maybe Banks that offer a service of storing your definitive copy of data for a nominal monthly fee? (hmmm let me write that idea down...). I see a compromise between our beliefs of personal identity replication vs central storage. In essence my beliefs have some similrities to yours. I just would rather that all the information I provide to some other entity would only be pointers to my definitive source. That gives me much more control than to replicate it out and not be able to revoke or instantly update one copy of it. Thanks again Scott - great topic - it seems we come back to it over and over. WE MUST TALK ABOUT THIS OVER DRINKS! Maybe very soon! Cheers Toy