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Here's an alternative I feel more comfortable with.
I control my personal data and I either store it locally (one something like an iButton) or on a hosted server by someone I really trust (an impartial service provider).
Clearly there's a need for someone to define an open schema and access semantics for getting at this data, but beyond this let the market of service providers out there develop services which assumes this framework.
Local data storage on a device I carry around with me gives me the opportunity of authenticating any transaction when needed (e.g. by a fingerprint sensor on the face of my wristwatch which holds the data). It also reassures me no-one gets to that data without my permission.
Remote data storage by a disinterested 3rd party ensures 100% network availability, but raises concerns about authentication.
Almost all my personal data today is carried around on my person - credit card, driver's license, passport, ATM card, ...
It's a relatively small step to making this all digital (in an openly agreed schema) and storing it all on a smart card - and in a few years storing it in your wristwatch.
The trouble with Hailstorm (which I think is a remarkably smart piece of thinking from MSoft) is that AOL and others will feel compelled to offer alternative 'data storage' and 'service provision' services which will fragment the marketplace. I'm already tired of carrying around so many cards in my wallet - let's not let it happen in cyberspace too !
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You're assuming everyone has the same habits as yourself. What about those of us who don't wear watches and don't want to? Not all of us are gadget geeks, you know.
No, this isn't a red herring. I'm serious. There are some folks who will happily carry around their personal info on a card or device, and then there are others of us who will refuse to be happy little techno-branded cattle.
I personally won't settle for my personal info being collected anywhere for the sake of marketing and commerce, whether I hold it (in some format convenient for others) or someone else holds it. And I don't believe even American consumers (as lax as they are) would allow the law to change to allow businesses they patronize to incorporate their personal info into a central repository w/o their knowledge and consent.
I'll simply avoid businesses and services that rely upon a centralized repository. No one has managed to convince me that Hailstorm offers enough advantages to a company to outweigh the distrust that many consumers will feel, especially given the current climate of anti-corporate sentiment.