Microsoft Word fidis-wp2-de models doc

FIDIS 

Future of Identity in the Information Society (No. 507512)

 

D2.3 

  

[Final], Version: 2.0 

File: fidis-wp2-del2.3.models.doc 

Page 28 

 

3.5  Assets & transactions 

3.5.1 Description 

Assets & transactions relates to the information concerning owning a belonging and 

acquisition of “goods”. These goods include a vast variety of “things” such as real-estates (a 

house), a digital item (such as a sound), a sum of money, or even a piece of information. The 

acquisition refers to the different processes used to transfer this information to a person, for 

instance via some purchasing action, or indeed any other means (for instance using a peer-to-

peer network tool). 

The management of the “assets & transactions” information is related to the association of 

items to a person (typically the items that belong to this person) as well as the historical data 

concerning this association. The role of the transaction attributes is to encapsulate this 

historical information.  

3.5.2  Examples of attributes 

 

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Income 

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Salaries 

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Other revenues 

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Financial 

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Bank accounts 

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Loans 

o

 

Stocks 

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Physical properties 

o

 

Real estates properties 

o

 

Car 

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Digital properties (digital items) 

o

 

Sounds 

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Movies 

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Socio-economical category 

 

3.5.3 Application domains 

Many application domains deal with asset & transaction information. The first obvious sets of 

applications are e-commerce, since they have a direct interest in making a commercial 

transaction with a person. For this purpose, companies sometime use data-mining techniques 

to profile their existing or potential clients to improve the effectiveness of their commercial 

campaigns. These companies are also interested in a better knowledge of their clients (what 

they own, what their financial capabilities are, what their socio-economical categories are) in 

order to adapt the interaction, and guide them (or orient them) to products that they are likely 

to buy. Of course, the access of this personal information (or set of attributes) may not be 

acceptable to the person. 

The “market” of digital goods (for instance sound tracks) is slightly more complex since, with 

the advent of peer-to-peer networks, the exchanges of digital items may occur outside of a 

commercial context. In this case, a participant of a peer-to-peer network will display to other 

participants a profile describing the digital items that he “owns”. This information may be 

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FIDIS 

Future of Identity in the Information Society (No. 507512)

 

D2.3 

  

[Final], Version: 2.0 

File: fidis-wp2-del2.3.models.doc 

Page 29 

 

used by peer-to-peer nodes to identify the item to be exchanged, but can also be used by the 

major media companies to track violation of digital rights. 

In the case of reputation based e-commerce systems (such as eBay) the transaction history 

information of the sellers and the buyers are made visible to all, providing transparency 

mechanisms in order to enforce trust. 

E-banking represents another application domain that is likely to manage person’s 

information, and in particular the “assets & transactions” attributes. The first motivation is, as 

in the previous case, to sell customers some financial products. The second motivation is to 

construct the risk profile of the person, and their capacity to reimburse a loan. 

The government, and more particularly its tax department, is interested in accessing all this 

information, in order to calculate the financial contribution of the person to the society. 

3.5.4 Relevant standards 

Assets & transactions information, or attributes that represent information about people assets 

and transactions, are not often the subject of open specifications. For instance, government 

systems or e-commerce systems, may manage this information internally using proprietary 

standards. However, HR-XML, which is used to manage human resource information, does 

represent some employee financial information with attributes such as “Pay” (a brief 

description of the salary, rate of pay or bonus provided by the job/position) or the “employee 

StockPlan”. Needless to say, the sensitivity of this information (and therefore the desire for 

confidentiality), in some of the European countries in particular, is considered high. 

In the domain of electronic commerce, CIQ (OASIS Customer Information Quality) aims to 

deliver global, application-independent, open XML specifications for party/customer 

information and profile management. 

Finally, it is interesting to note that RFID may in the future provide the possibility (under the 

condition that it will be authorised) to instantly determine the belongings on a person (for 

instance when this person enters a shop). 

 

3.6 Citizenship, justice 

3.6.1 Description 

Citizenship and justice related attributes are for information that is related to the interaction of 

the person from the legal perspective. They are used to represent the person’s information 

related to the rights and obligations of the person towards society, as well as the expression of 

this person in a democracy. 

Of course this information is very sensitive, since the level of its exploitation is strongly 

related to the level of democracy within a society and the right of expression. 

3.6.2  Examples of attributes 

 

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Authority (representative of justice, journalists, etc.) 

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Political affiliation 

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