Privacy, Identity, and Anonymity in Web 2.0

Web2.0 has created a new rush towards social networking and collaborative applications. This enables new possibilities, but also is a threat to users' privacy and data. On the surface, many people seem to like giving away their data to others in exchange for building communities or getting their 15 seconds of fame. But below it lie less obvious privacy implications. Some of them are accidential, like publicly marking someone as a "friend" without asking that person before or putting personal data under a creative commons license. But some are more fundamental, as they are based on voluntary surveillance of the users. On the extreme end of the spectrum, the trend towards "identity 2.0" services - from microformats like OpenID and adressing systems like XDI to infrastructures like Cardspace and Higgins - will have far-reaching impacts on the future of privacy and anonymity on the web. The presentation will show the hidden privacy implications of some web2.0 and identity2.0 services, standards and applications and discuss the underlying trend here.