Spam, Identity, And Scary Frickin' Clowns

What is identity? Is your identity what you say you are? or is it what others say you are?

On the web, you could be a spammer or a scammer... I don't care what you say you are, I care what others say about you. Just like your Google PageRank, if other link to you and say you're OK, then you're probably OK. Not OK enough to trust, but OK enough for me to find you first...

But who does this external validation of your identity? Who gets the power to say who you are? Your identity can't be purely what somebody else says... otherwise you're trapped in a Kafka-esque world like Bingo The Clown-O.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzeD0ibhkHA

Perhaps the more vocal one is, the more their identity should depend on the opinions of others... whereas the meek and quiet should have greater power to say who they are...

In any event your identity is too important... it cannot be trusted with any one person, one organization, or one security protocol. You need multiples of each, always competing to find bigger, better solutions. You need a web of trust so people can get a fuzzy idea of who you are... precision is impossible in real life, so why do so many think its possible on the web?

Ah, I miss the good old days with PGP key signing parties...