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
•
Income
o
Salaries
o
Other revenues
•
Financial
o
Bank accounts
o
Loans
o
Stocks
•
Physical properties
o
Real estates properties
o
Car
•
Digital properties (digital items)
o
Sounds
o
Movies
•
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
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.)
•
Political affiliation