Spanish practice

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[Dave Birch] Mobile payments are developing in some pretty interesting ways at the moment. While we tend to think of mobile payments as being some sort of replacement for our familiar plastic cards, this is only one part of the market. In some parts of the world, retail is not the focus, and mobile money transfer has become a serious business and it’s already beginning to connect the developed and developing worlds. There’s no doubt in my mind that this will be one of the most important uses of the technology, in terms of improving the lives of the most people: making it possible to move money around means inclusion and financial services where there were none before.

Vodafone, Safaricom and Western Union have announced that they will partner to pilot a cross-border Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) service between the U.K. and Kenya.

[From Payments News: Vodafone, Safaricom, Western Union Partner for Mobile Transfers - December 08, 2008]

So you can now use your mobile phone to send money from one country to another. That’s not to say that retail payments are not participating in the mobile revolution. If you look at countries such as Japan and Korea — which I stress are not templates for the rest of developed world, but we can see them as testbeds for certain technologies that will inevitable spread — mobile payments are part of the mainstream. There, it’s the mobile operators who have been driving change and, while using mobile proximity payments to buy cups of coffee have long since ceased to be novel in those markets, those operators are continuing to drive innovation. Oddly, given the focus in the press, one area where contactless payment technologies may have great impact is not in stores but on line.

SK Telecom subscribers, who can already use the “T-Cash” mobile payment system to pay for bus fares, grocery products and parking tickets, will now also be able to purchase goods and services from the Internet… Since launching the service earlier this year, SK Telecom said it gathered more than 200,000 users of T-Cash. The mobile wallets are used for paying bus, subway and taxi fares, buying items at 24-hour convenience stores, and paying for parking at a number of major facilities such as Seoul Station, Gimpo International Airport and Seoul World Cup Stadium. T-Cash will now be accepted as payment at 11th Street (www.11st.co.kr), an online retail and auction site operated by SK Telecom, and Cyworld (www.cyworld.com), the country’s most popular social networking service, operated by SK Communications, the Internet unit of SK Telecom.

[From Mobile Payment Extended Online]

I wrote, four years ago, about Cyworld and its role in shaping next generation payments. In the Korean market, the Cyworld connection is particularly significant. So why isn’t the activity and energy from the developing world and from Japan and Korea yet having any impact in the mass market in Europe or the US? Well, one clear reason is that it has taken a long time for the GSM world to sort out standards and put the development of handsets on a firm roadmap. And although the standards have firmed up (in fact the GSMA got the standards it wanted) there’s still only a couple of handsets out there. A few months ago, the GSMA called for NFC to be delivered in to the mass market, well, round about now.

The GSMA, the global trade group for the mobile industry, today called for full NFC functionality — including the standardised ‘Single Wire Protocol’ interface — to be built into commercially available mobile handsets from mid-2009, in order to ensure that consumers can reap the benefits of mobile payment services as soon as possible.

[From GSMA Calls for Pay-Buy-Mobile Handsets]

It’s taken a lot longer for NFC to get near the mass market than many of us thought when the first experiments began four or five years ago. But it does at least seem that it’s now practical to begin thinking about the new businesses that will emerge when we combine the GSMA roadmap with the laboratory results from Asia and the game-changing business models from Africa. I’m getting more enthusiastic about NFC as the days go by.

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

What’s the use case?

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[Dave Birch] Suppose you did have a virtual identity that did something for you that was so useful that would actually pay for it. What kind of thing should it do? At the Forum Oxford Future Technologies seminar I heard Mark Curtis of Flirtomatic say something along the lines of "we would happily use mobile operator age verification services if they worked". This struck me as a very simple, prosaic example. Just as in the physical world there are a couple of age verification schemes where teenagers can buy cards that show them to be over 18, perhaps the online equivalent would be the place to begin.

Now that people like Facebook are getting on board with OpenID, perhaps one idea might be to a create an OpenID source that supplies IDs with a single credential IS_OVER_18 and two-factor authentication. This would be, effectively, one of Bob's LLPs. Where would you use this? Well, one of the long standing mass market problem area is social networking. There have been attempt to deal with this piecemeal.

Mobile social networking service Funky Sexy Cool is offering identity verification to all its members at no additional cost, says Tim O’Connor, CEO of the New York-based company. But members have to choose to go through the process. Funky Sexy Cool enables members to find other like-minded individuals in the same geographic area to hang out with. For example, a member can send out a message to his friends saying he’ll be at a certain club or bar… Funky Sexy Cool is using ID verification technology from IDology Inc., Atlanta. IDology searches public databases to confirm an identity [and] charges about 37 cents per ID verification.

[From Social networking sites have little to no identity verification : CR80 News]

Now teenagers would, naturally, want to obtain the 2FA "device" of an older sibling or friend in order to gain access to sites, but it's not like using fake ID to buy a beer, because they'd end up logged in not as themselves but their sibling, friend etc which isn't much use in social networking.

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

Virtual identities and LLPs

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[Dave Birch] Over the Burton Group, Bob Blakely has been developing a line of thinking around a particular kind of virtual identity that he has called the Limited Liability Persona, or LLP and he recently posted some ideas for more specific characteristics of such a thing that I think deserve reflection. Bob's thinking is that since the invention of the limited liability company as a distinct legal entity the economy has grown and benefited, so there might be economic advantages to recognising some form of virtual identity as a distinct legal entity.

Well, since LLPs don't really exist yet, it's hard to be too specific. But in principle an LLP is a legal entity with a name:

  1. Created by an action of a court.
  2. Owned by one or more individuals.
  3. With its own resources distinct from those of its owners.
  4. In which owners can invest new resources.
  5. With its own "identity attributes" distinct from those of its owners.
  6. Whose actions are legally distinct from those of the owners (though the owners may be held accountable for those actions.
  7. Whose resources may be transferred to its owners.
  8. Which can be sold by the owners to new owners.
  9. Whose existence can be terminated by its owners.

[From Burton Group Identity Blog: The Limited Liability Persona]

This is very close to the idea of the virtual identity bound to a digital identity that we have discussed here before but with much firmer purpose. In Europe, as is many other jurisdictions, the relevant digital signature legislation already exists so that legally-binding digital signatures can be used and by inference legally-valid digital identities created. It's easy to see how Bob's ideas can be implemented except for the transfers part. If an LLP is a virtual identity that is, in essence, a public key certificate then it cannot be transferred. It must be deleted and a new virtual identity created: so let's say there is a virtual identity "Chair of Manchester City Fan Club" that it my public key signed by Manchester City Fan Club's private key. Then, when a new Chair is elected then my certificate has to be revoked and a new certificate created (ie, the new Chair's public key signed by Manchester City Fan Club's private key). So the particular attribute "Chair of Manchester City Fan Club" ends up bound to a new digital identity (key pair).

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

I can see an article of some sort. Anyone called David?

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[Dave Birch] Well, my paper on “Psychic ID: A blueprint for a modern national identity” has been accepted for the new Springer journal “Identity in the Information Society” (IDIS). I didn’t completely understand the form I filled out, not being familiar with the world of academic journals, but I think the essence of it is that I can put a PDF of my original on my web site provided it contains a link to the actual journal article, so once I can sort that out I will do so. But the main reason for this post is just to note how what started off as an idea in a discussion — basically, trying to visualise 21st-century digital identity management using Dr. Who’s psychic paper as a reference point, having given up on trying to explain keys, certificates and all the rest of the crypto-infrastructure — became a presentation and then a paper and finally a peer-reviewed paper that I’m rather proud of. I’ve found a way to explain to non-technical audiences — well, British non-technical audiences at least — that the combination of widely-available devices and intelligence can deliver an identity management infrastructure that can achieve much more than they imagine.

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

Free!

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[Dave Birch] Well, now I’ve got your attention here’s a quick reminder that next week is the 12th annual Digital Money Forum and we still have a few places left. They’re not free, but they’re well worth the almost insignificant delegate fee considering the incredible range of expertise and experience on offer. You can view the full agenda online over at the Digital Money Forum or you can download it here (248.3K). The Forum is now in its twelfth year, and once again promises the combination of discussion and debate, learning and fun, that has earned it the reputation as the place to be for people interested in the future of retail electronic payments. It continues to be a unique event, where interaction and invention replace product announcements and “death by Powerpoint” sales pitches.   As you may know, this is a not-for-profit event that supports a variety of charities. This year we are supporting BUFFER (which provides specialist diagnostic equipment for breast cancer), Action Medical Research and Jubilee Action which helps children worldwide. This years Forum is made possible by the kindness of our sponsors Visa Europe, Monetise, WebMoney and VoicePay with support from our charity tournament sponsor ACI Worldwide.

Some come and join our experts from the World Bank, Financial Services Authority, The Economist, European Payments Council, Transport for London, Nationwide, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sidley & Austin, O2, The Guardian, Innovaro, Masabi, EAT, ABI, Finextra, Disruptive Analysis and the Free University of Brussels at the 12th annual Digital Money Forum in London on 31st March and 1st April at the Guoman Charing Cross hotel and come away with the kinds of new concepts, new friends and new business ideas that many of you have come to expect from this unique event. All delegates will receive a copy of our popular Digital Money Blook (the most interesting posts from this blog over the last year) and Larry H. White’s “Free Banking in Britain” along with “The Nudge Factor”.

Thanks for reading that. Now for the details of two terrific — and absolutely FREE — events on Monday 30th March in London. If you are interested in the future of electronic payments, you have the opportunity the spend a relaxing lunchtime and afternoon in the company of an assembly experts rare on these shores.

, ,

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

Prime directive

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[Dave Birch] Thanks to the generosity of our sponsor, the StoLPan project, Consult Hyperion and city lawyers Sidley Austin will be running an free afternoon seminar on the Payment Services Directive (PSD) at the Guoman Charing Cross Hotel in London on 30th March 2009.

The seminar will comprise three sessions:

  • An overview of the PSD by William Long from Sidley Austin
  • National implementations in members states by William Long from Sidley Austin, and then after tea
  • A roundtable discussion (led by me) on the business impact featuring a couple of companies in the field.

Some observers think that for banks, the PSD represents cost with little benefit, but for some non-banks, the PSD represents an opportunity to get into the payment business. Why not come along and make up your own mind by discussing the directive with other experts in the field?

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

In 2018, we can start catching up with Lithuania

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[Dave Birch] One of my most frequent criticisms of the UK's national identity card scheme is that it is backward-looking, an electronic simulation of a Victorian ID card rather than an ID card for the 21st century. I gave an example of this in a talk recently by using the case of OpenID, noting that in Finland you can use your ID card to log in to OpenID, and pointing out that this bringing together of |nternet standards and national ID made sense on a number of levels. Needless to say, I have never heard OpenID mentioned in connection with the UK national ID card.

Now I hear that another country has gone over to OpenID. In this case, Lithuania.

Starting January 1st 2009 every issued Personal ID card has OpenID in it, backed up by personal digital certificate. National Certificate Center under the Ministry of Interior will be the national OpenID provider (https://openid.vrm.lt/). Provider service is currently in testing mode, it is not yet open to the general public, but it will go public anytime soon.

[From [OpenID - Eu] Republic of Lithuania goes OpenID]

Doesn't anyone else find it odd that our flagship national identity programme is so unambitious? That our roadmap to 2018 does not include services that are already rolled out in Lithuania?

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

Privacy invasion by design

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[Dave Birch] I've been reading the excellent report on Privacy by Design that was published by the Information Commissioner's Office in December. As I'm sure many of you will know, the report was written by Forum friend Toby Stevens of EPG. As therefore might be expected, it is a thorough piece of work that makes practical recommendations. As I was reading through it, I began to wonder to what extent the implicit assumptions about what is "good" or "bad" (the report is not that simplistic, by the way) are purely cultural and therefore to what extent the idea of some kind of identity infrastructure that can deliver appropriate privacy, identity, credential, reputation and other structures on an international, web-wide basis is really plausible.

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

Professor Lawrence H. White to kick-off the 2009 Digital Money Forum

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[Dave Birch] Lawrence White is the F. A. Hayek Professor of Economic History and the University of Missouri–St. Louis and the author of, amongst other things, “Currency and Competition” and “Free Banking in Britain 1800-1845”, books that changed my view of both the history and future of payments, so I am utterly delighted to be able to announce that Larry will be in London to give the kick-off talk at this year’s 12th annual Digital Money Forum on 31st March and 1st April 2009. You can view the full agenda online over at the Digital Money Forum or you can download it here (248.3K).

The Forum is now in its twelfth year, and once again promises the combination of discussion and debate, learning and fun, that has earned it the reputation as the place to be for people interested in the future of retail electronic payments. It continues to be a unique event, where interaction and invention replace product announcements and “death by Powerpoint” sales pitches. This year we are moving the agenda forwards again to look at some of the issues and drivers around the evolution of technology the electronic payments world.

As you may know, this is a not-for-profit event that supports a variety of charities. This year we are supporting BUFFER (which provides specialist diagnostic equipment for breast cancer), Action Medical Research and Jubilee Action which helps children worldwide. This years Forum is made possible by the kindness of our sponsors Visa Europe, Monetise, WebMoney and VoicePay with support from our charity tournament sponsor ACI Worldwide.

Once again we have decided to structure the Forum around four sessions followed by a variety of expert panels.

  • Session one recognises that the future of payments is linked to the future of money. if cash goes away, the cost of new entrants falls. What might they be? Private or public? Commodity or community?
  • Session two looks at the specific issue of security to see if biometrics and other technologies might be moving into position to make a significant impact on the payments world in the coming year.
  • Session three examines how successful payment schemes change societies and marketplaces, and takes an ethnographic perspective to help us to learn more about introducing new payment systems.
  • Session four looks at innovation in different ways: new processes, new technology and new frameworks. How can the payments sector take all of these imminent changes on board and make real innovation work.

Some come and join our experts from the World Bank, Financial Services Authority, The Economist, European Payments Council, Transport for London, Nationwide, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sidley & Austin, O2, The Guardian, Innovaro, Masabi, EAT, ABI, Finextra, Disruptive Analysis and the Free University of Brussels at the 12th annual Digital Money Forum in London on 31st March and 1st April at the Guoman Charing Cross hotel and come away with the kinds of new concepts, new friends and new business ideas that many of you have come to expect from this unique event. All delegates will receive a copy of our popular Digital Money Blook (the most interesting posts from this blog over the last year) along with “The Nudge Factor”.

[Read more...]

These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.

Footprints in the silicon

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[Dave Birch] I like the phrase “digital footprints” as I think it provides as useful metaphor and image. Your digital identities leave digital footprints behind and other people — perhaps people you don’t know — can follow those footprints. That’s a reasonably powerful picture to put in front of people. I was trying to come up with something like this because I was thinking about how to educate people to be aware of the new way of the world. Children, in particular, need to understand the ramifications of their new media use (not to stop them from using it, but to help them to use it more effectively). For example…

When these kids are in high school and college, will a prerequisite for dating my teenage daughter be reading my blog?

[From Digital Footprints: Raising Kids Online - Media Bullseye]

Probably. It would certainly be way for a prospective daughter-in-law to score points with me! There’s nothing wrong in helping children to lead lives online, but we must obviously do what we can to protect them and encourage responsible usage (which I think a digital identity infrastructure would do, but it’s not the only way of doing it). Who are we protecting them from, other than future in-laws? We all understand the risks, even if they are somewhat overplayed in the media and not understood at all by politicians. As I said before

so it turns out that by and large perverts don’t use social networking sites while pretending to be teenagers, but nonetheless something must be done, and who better to decide what to do than politicians.

[From Digital Identity Forum: Hard cases]

But your digital footprint isn’t only of interest to criminals and peverts, but also marketers. In other words, hiding your digital footprint away (or not creating one) isn’t a solution because allowing the right people to see your digital footprint at the right time means better products and services. In fact, if marketing could be on the basis of your digital footprint rather than a random collection of facts about you together with suppositions about group behaviour, that might be rather a good thing.

This is the future of marketing intelligence. Its no longer demographics. Identity is not worth collecting. Lets safely secure that with our customers, promise them we won’t mine their identity. But the digital footprint, that is valuable. And the social context – Like Alan Moore says, this is the Black Gold of the 21st Century, the biggest prize. We can only discover social context accurately via the mobile phone, but the companies that build upon this dimension, those companies will seem like “reading our minds” in how accurately, cannily, they will serve ever better services and products and offers and campaigns for us.

[From Communities Dominate Brands: Datamining our identity, digital footprint, and social context]

We need a way to manage the connections between other people, our footprints and our selves.

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These are the personal opinions of Consult Hyperion and its guests and should not be misunderstood as representing the opinion of its clients or suppliers. To discuss how any of the technologies discussed in this post can benefit your business, please contact Consult Hyperion.