Michelle Dennedy is Chief Privacy Officer for Sun, and she has a slightly different view of identity than I do. That’s only natural since – as I’ve mentioned a number of times – people who come to identity through security services have a different outlook from those of us who came to identity through directory services, and Dennedy’s background is closer to the security folks.

But she recently introduced me to a new field, relevant to identity services and practices. The field is Hermeneutics, and according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “The term hermeneutics covers both the first order art and the second order theory of understanding and interpretation of linguistic and non-linguistic expressions. As a theory of interpretation, the hermeneutic tradition stretches all the way back to ancient Greek philosophy. In the course of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, hermeneutics emerges as a crucial branch of Biblical studies. Later on, it comes to include the study of ancient and classic cultures.” Read the entire entry to see how the discipline developed.

Dennedy wants to use Hermeneutics to help explain context within the identity system:

“My name is Michelle Finneran Dennedy. So what? There are various pieces of law & cultural norms that say others cannot assume that name & pretend to be me to get stuff if the other party gives it to them *because* that name means good credit, or an endorsement from a friend, fellow alumna, or whatever.” She goes on to explain the use of context when she states: “My name is Michelle Finneran Dennedy takes on an entirely different significance if the context is a list of:

* mothers;
* married people;
* children of kooky parents;
* obsessive PD James fans;
* Sun employees;
* law school graduates;
* U.S. citizens;

(all of which are true identifiers of this particular Michelle Finneran Dennedy),

or a list of:

* Swiss bank holders in the billionaire club;
* reality show participants famed for eating bugs or crying on TV;
* Holocaust survivors;
* terrorists.

(all of which are not identifiers of this particular Michelle Finneran Dennedy).

The point Dennedy wishes to make is that: “Once context habit or history is associated with a name or other element of identifiable persona, the currency of that data is changed. The ability to spend, save or add to that currency is also changed. Thus, the necessity to seek and maintain quality interpretation context and management of these critical data assets is highlighted. The tools that must be used to manage such a powerful asset must be accordingly tuned to meet the challenge. The processes and people that must execute around its management must be able to use the tools and respect the value of the data currency & the context in which it resides.” This she calls “Applied Hermeneutics.” But to me it’s simply one more indicator of the importance of context in identity.

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