Stephen Downes

This article reads like an advertorial, which would explain why it isn't behind Technology Review's usual paywall. The report it cites is behind a spamwall, though you can read a summary blog post. The main point is that "organizations like the Open Metaverse Interoperability (OMI) Group (are) working to help companies achieve 'meta-traversal' capabilities," that is, moving from one 'store' to another with a single identity, as though you were in a mall. This, though, makes authentication a weak point, with the danger of impersonation and theft of credentials. These articles do nothing more than highlight the issue. True identity portability - which is required for everything from digital credentials to electronic health records to e-democracy - will require much more robust security than we have today, not only for authentication, but also secure and persistent digital artifacts. This isn't just a metaverse problem; it's an internet problem, and a wider social problem.