So many identity conferences, so little time

The foundation for security and enterprise management

Recently I was bemoaning the fact that identity had become so central to computing, business and modern life that the number of shows, conferences and meetings about identity or featuring identity were multiplying by leaps and bounds. Ten years ago, I could be sure of talking about identity at the annual Catalyst conference and would get information on directories and other identity stories at Novell's BrainShare, but that was about it. That's no longer the case. It's very good, of course, that identity has become so important but it also means a lot of traveling for those of us who have to follow these things.

I'd skipped the O'Reilly Open Source Conference (OSCON) in Portland this year (it's happening this week) because there'd been no mention of identity at last year's meeting. So it was too late when I learned that, last night, a birds-of-a-feather session on identity would be held. Also, there would be seminars on Passel http://www.passel.org/trac.cgi a new "personal identity" scheme.

This coming November could add megamiles to your frequent flyer account. Nov. 2-4 is Catalyst Europe http://www.tbg.com/catalyst/, Nov. 9-10 are the dates for Digital ID World New York http://conference.digitalidworld.com/2005nyc/ and Nov. 17 will see the start of two conferences that both sound fascinating but are taking place almost 6,000 miles apart.

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Recently I was bemoaning the fact that identity had become so central to computing, business and modern life that the number of shows, conferences and meetings about identity or featuring identity were multiplying by leaps and bounds. Ten years ago, I could be sure of talking about identity at the annual Catalyst conference and would get information on directories and other identity stories at Novell's BrainShare, but that was about it. That's no longer the case. It's very good, of course, that identity has become so important but it also means a lot of traveling for those of us who have to follow these things.

I'd skipped the O'Reilly Open Source Conference (OSCON) in Portland this year (it's happening this week) because there'd been no mention of identity at last year's meeting. So it was too late when I learned that, last night, a birds-of-a-feather session on identity would be held. Also, there would be seminars on Passel http://www.passel.org/trac.cgi a new "personal identity" scheme.

This coming November could add megamiles to your frequent flyer account. Nov. 2-4 is Catalyst Europe http://www.tbg.com/catalyst/, Nov. 9-10 are the dates for Digital ID World New York http://conference.digitalidworld.com/2005nyc/ and Nov. 17 will see the start of two conferences that both sound fascinating but are taking place almost 6,000 miles apart.

Costa Rica University, in association with the Berkman Center of the University of California, will be hosting the first Annual Digital Identity and Human Rights Symposium, organized by the Virtual Rights Project http://www.virtualrights.org/.

The goals of the conference are:
1. To have an annual meeting where new developments are presented related with virtual rights (digital identity), with a focus on non-technical issues and specially legislation.
2. Foster international cooperation on virtual rights, by creating a virtual forum for international legislators, researchers and providers, users, through offline and online exchanges.

At the exact same time, Simon Grice founder and CEO of Midentity (he previously founded and ran eTribes, see http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2004/1108id1.html?rl for more) will be calling to order the Personal Digital Identity (PDiD) Summit http://www.personaldigitalidentity.com/ in London. According to Grice: "The event will take a 2-day form with the 17th (Thursday) being more formal [and] aimed at helping corporate/government/voluntary organizations understand what PDiD is. The 2nd day [Nov. 18] will be more informal and be aimed at helping those in the sector to get together, discuss, share ideas, demonstrate etc. " He adds, "No doubt those with the energy and desire will end up sampling London's nightlife on the evening of the 18th."

Both look very appealing - but which should I go to? Help me, dear readers - which would you suggest?

Read more about security in Network World's Security section.

Dave Kearns is a consultant and editor of IdM, the Journal of Identity Management.