Telepocalypse

Arnie's namesake?

According to Jeff Pulver, a profile has appeared for Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Orkut social networking service. Somehow, I suspect that being Governor of the state of California doesn't leave much time for e-mingling with undersexed and overconnected Valley geeks. In this case it doesn't matter much. But if you're engaging in a blind date or first-time business transaction, truth in identity is a matter of real concern.

This really echoes my earlier point: digital identity matters. And the hook from digital identity to the analog you is what really really matters, because ultimately value is only created in the physical world, not the virtual one. That hook could be endogenous, where Orkut directly verify your real identity (or get a third party to do it for them). Or it could be externally supplied, where the Arnie profile on Orkut gets a reputation through another channel as truly being that of the man himself. Since I don't see too many mentions of Orkut in Arnie's official bio, I'd recommend you reserve a table for one if Orkut-Arnie drops you a line offering an intimate luncheon date.

The telco angle? There's a copper wire or two heading into your home. The true value of that wire may not be in the data that can be sent over it. After all, the physical wire is better off being melted for scrap and replaced with a strand of glass. The value comes from the fact that it's a real pain to fake the physical end-point of the network. That physcial end point, validated by a 3rd party, is super-important data. (See last year's article on a value model for identity for more details.) Yeah, there's clip-on fraud where someone hooks into the network at an unauthorized point. But I suspect that there's a limited number of people willing to scrabble about in the bushes outside the Governor's mansion with a set of crocodile clips just so they can pretend to live there and create an Orkut profile attached to that address.

So not only has the identity system for future real-time communications yet to be built, I don't think we've even begun to analyze the requirement that system will have to meet.