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Pat Patterson on Identity Management, Federation and Single Malt Scotch

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01 May · Tue 2007

Just back from the Liberty Alliance plenary meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Lots of interesting stuff afoot, both in the plenary meeting itself and the associated Identity Open Space (IOS) event.

One big news item - the economics of Liberty participation just changed, radically: effective May 1, individuals can join Liberty Alliance as associate ($100) or sponsor ($250) members. Fees have also been reduced for enterprises and other organizations - see the new Membership Matrix (PDF) for details.

Also, the Technology Experts Group (TEG) mailing list is now publicly viewable. Paul explains some of the rationale. TEG is the powerhouse of the Liberty Alliance (no offense to Public Policy, Business and Marketing or any of the other expert groups!), turning market requirements into specifications; this move makes that mechanism completely transparent.

Looks like the trend towards openness and participation is spreading!

@ 10:33 AM PDT Comments [7]

Comments:

It appears the Project Liberty membership agreement doesn't, however, provide a means for individuals to join; it hasn't been updated.

Posted by Mark Wahl on May 01, 2007 at 11:28 AM PDT #

Hi Mark - I'm chasing this down with the Liberty folks right now...

Posted by Pat Patterson on May 01, 2007 at 01:07 PM PDT #

Mark, Liberty Alliance did approve a new Individual Membership category last week. What are you referring to that you believe also needs updating? You may have found something we simply missed. --Brett McDowell, E.D., Liberty Alliance

Posted by Brett McDowell on May 01, 2007 at 01:13 PM PDT #

http://www.projectliberty.org/index.php/liberty/files/member_pack Mempack.zip 24 January 2007 Liberty Alliance Membership Agreement.pdf "Liberty Alliance Membership Agreement Effective Date 24 January 2007 LIBERTY ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT This Liberty Alliance Membership Agreement ("Agreement") is entered by and among _______________, a ______________ corporation, (“PARTICIPANT”)..." suggested that a participant was always a corporation of some form. Thanks, Mark Wahl

Posted by Mark Wahl on May 01, 2007 at 01:32 PM PDT #

Ah, ok.
Yes, I see how that might be confusing. But that is, as you say, "suggestive". That section is the equivalent of a signature block and it is not binding (i.e. the implication that the applicant is a corporation is not binding on whether or not they are in fact a corporation). To join as a Sponsor (or Associate) at the Individual Contributor fee level, just put your name in the first block and ignore the second. That's all.
It is just a bit confusing and would be a good clean-up item in any future substantive revision of the agreement, should there be one.

Thank you for pointing this out.

-- Brett McDowell, E.D., Liberty Alliance

Posted by Brett McDowell on May 01, 2007 at 01:58 PM PDT #

Liberty seems irrelevant thanks to OpenID. Looks like for once, someone beat SUNW to the word "Open".

Posted by Douche Bag on May 02, 2007 at 01:27 AM PDT #

Nice soundbite, Mr Bag, but it doesn't make any sense. If you look at Liberty's work, there is little, if any, overlap with OpenID (for example, Liberty's main technical focus right now is web services - OpenID doesn't go there). And Liberty != SUNW - Sun is active in both Liberty and OpenID.

Posted by Pat Patterson on May 02, 2007 at 08:14 AM PDT #