Re: [arch-d] Proposed IAB program on Wholistic Human-Oriented Discussions on Identity Systems (WHODIS)

[Christian Huitema <[e-mail]>]

On 8/20/2023 12:39 PM, Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 20, 2023 at 12:42 AM Toerless Eckert <[e-mail] 
> <mailto:[e-mail]>> wrote:
> 
>     As long as we keep e.g.: corporate naming schemes such as
>     eckert-<whatever>
>     for all equipment assigned to me at some employer, i am sure that the
>     trackers will be happy to have us develop hardly tracable user-identity
>     for us as people.
> 
>     Translation: tongue in cheek example for how device identity/naming
>     may undermine
>     user identity, and that i fear such outcome will be more likely if
>     we ignore it
>     in the process we're about to engage in.
> 
> 
> That strikes me as an anti-pattern for the reasons you suggest.

Many devices have an identifier that is very hard to change, for example 
MAC addresses, the VIN for cars or the IMEI of phones. Yet these devices 
have strong de facto linkage to the people who use them. If we want hard 
to trace identity for people, we have to make the device identity either 
very hard to access or very easy to change.

-- Christian Huitema