About the Internet Society 

Initiatives for 2008-2010

Trust and Identity

The Internet Society's Trust and Identity initiative recognises that in order to be trusted, the Internet must provide channels for secure, reliable, private, communication between entities, which can be clearly authenticated in a mutually understood manner. The mechanisms that provide this level of assurance must support both the end-to-end nature of Internet architecture and reasonable means for entities to manage and protect their own identity details.

A trusted Internet takes into account security, transaction protection, and identity assertion and management. Given the network dependence on unique numbers and the escalating amount of geolocation data being gathered, the privacy implications of the current Internet represent a significant and growing concern. Trust must be a primary design element at every layer of the architecture, and in some cases, existing elements may need to be redesigned or improved to meet emerging requirements.

2008 Programmes

In late 2007, the ISOC Board of Trustees held an intensive retreat to consider ISOC's role in identifying and pursuing trust and identity issues. The report arising from that meeting, Trust and the Future of the Internet (PDF: 208KB), forms the basis of ISOC's current long term strategic initiative.

The Trust and Identity initiative focuses on the following major research programmes.

1. Architecture and Trust
   This research programme investigates the implementation of open-trust mechanisms throughout the full cycle of Internet research, standardisation, development, and deployment.
2. Current Problems and Solutions and Trust
   This research programme investigates the mitigation of the social, policy, and economic factors that may hinder development and deployment for trust-enabling technologies.
3. Identity and Trust
   This research programme investigates the elevation of identity to a core issue in network research and standards development. ISOC is taking a lead role in reviewing the current Internet architecture and the model of Internet development and deployment. This includes active engagement with participants within the traditional ISOC sphere, as well as with the research, enterprise, and end-user communities. We offer the kind of support for research that enhances and facilitates trust and collaboration with the standards community and that advances the most interesting outcomes of that research.

ISOC is reaching out to the businesses and end users that rely on the Internet to exchange sensitive data. Their needs and concerns inform both our baseline research agendas and ongoing standards and development work. ISOC continues to support the advancement of current technical solutions and best practices through our existing programmes.

Further reading

• Trust and the Future of the Internet (PDF: 208KB)
• Trust and Identity Initiative brochure (PDF: 67KB)