*Trust, but Verify* in Web 2.0

Do you have multiple usernames and passwords for web sites? Do you get phishing emails from Lord-knows-who? As web services explode and you want access to them (and they to you), are you prepared to fill out dozens more forms and have still dozens more usernames and passwords?

At the Web 2.0 conference my horizons were raised about the state of identity management (a long way away from being real, ready and ubiquitous) and the importance of it being in place before the next generation of the Web can truly explode.

We’ve all experienced the frustration of constant form completing and the multiple passwords we all use. At last count, I had 121 separate sites/web services that required my credentials (username, password) to access. 121!?! It’s no wonder that most people use the same username and password across the multiple sites they visit and I sometimes do too (only on sites with little value…the big deal stuff like banking and stock trading get my double super secret, industrial strength hexadecimal passwords).

There is a lot of effort, energy and brainpower focused on identity management. Using tons of web offerings simultaneously will *demand* that we have a single, trusted authority that allows each one of us to have a trust/verified identity that can be federated across multiple sites and web services. In fact with all the buzz about social software and Web 2.0 — and the power of people all over the world connecting up with others that share their affinities — trusted, verified identity is critical and is well thought out here.

To learn more, you can read articles here and here or visit Doc Searls’ fabulous list o’ links.