The danger or importance of putting the kin in things!

There are two ways of thinking about the kin in things.

The first the more dangerous of the two is only more dangerous if we do do it first!

If we put the kin in things, so that they become smart or thinking things, (OK so it was not a good pun!) before we put the kin in things so that they become "kith and kin" things, or things that know where their allegiances lie, then we should always be thinking: "On whose behalf is this thing thinking?"

In truth that is also true of a thing that can't think.

We should always be asking is this thing for me or against me? Is it a friend or foe?

As usual in this fast changing world of "Cyber Space" of which the internet is only a foundational part it comes down to Trust, what we might call e-Trust!

Trust, as we know, is founded on knowing a lot about the thing we want to trust, trusting the entity that commended the thing, and be very cognisant of the context in which we wish to use or operate the thing. This context can be embodied in the Rules of Entitlement a set of two way rules that helps us and the thing attain the correct degree of confidence in each other. [Why would a smart car start, without protest, if it knows that you are, over the legal limit,  not insured to drive, do not hold a valid driving license or road fund license, or do not have enough fuel to complete your intended journey.]

The sub components of all this are :

• Identity Part 1; literally the ID of the Entity (or Thing)
• Identity Part 2; attributes that support decisions about the Entity
• Authentication (of Identity Part 1 & 2)
• Rules of Entitlement  <<< Magic Lies here
• Services relating to the provision and corroboration of the above
• Finally controls that allow the management of 
• effective degree of transparency and translucency of the thing
• the availability of the thing
• the integrity of the thing
• and finally and perhaps most important given where we started exploring, is the Agency State of the Thing or  the capaciyt to "Know who controls it"

Me-thinks that putting the kin in things in the right order will be key to mankind "Attaining the right balance of Cyber Agency"(Future Blog), between the relevant five parties Persons, Things Governments, Enterprises, or Gaia

At present we are mass producing things that have no simple or standard capacity to identify themselves with others. Let's work quickly to first put the "kith and kin" in things.
We will need "Thing Kin Ecosystem"

I spoke of the problem to Michael Barrett of FIDO, he restated with the fervour of someone who fully understands the dangers of scope creep that FIDO is "JUST doing Authentication".  I truly commend him as without the Authentication component a Thing Kin Ecosystem will simply NOT be possible. But Authentication of what is still slightly unclear to me, happily I have another shot at finding out in two weeks.

I sat next to a VP of ARM the other day and posed this opportunity to him, I did a poor job hence this blog.

Wonder if this better gets the points across?  Comments?