Identity - Again

It is shocking to me that Identity Management is not more of a mainstream issue.

My friend Steve was returning from London a week ago and lost his cell phone "somewhere in the AA terminal in Chicago". After he spent a number of hours on the phone with various Chicago O'Hare airport folks he discovered his phone was with AA in their lost and found.

On Christmas day I got a Merry Christmas email on my blackberry. It turns out that he lost all of his phone numbers when he lost his phone.

This story ends on a happy note, Steve's phone is being fedexed back and his numbers will be saved.

I don't understand why cell phone companies haven't latched onto this problem yet. It seems like SIM cards and phones should be easily able to "backup" to the mobile xSP. I would happily pay $5.00USD/month to have my numbers and contact information backed up.

So here is another reason Identity Management should be important to everyone. Here is a situation where a good identity management system could be used to centralize our information. If your phone is lost do you want someone turning it on and finding all your numbers and text messages OR would you rather an authentication check at the boot of your phone that then downloads the trivial stored data you need (phone numbers) onto ANY device you use.

I use a blackberry so this problem doesn't exist for me, so consider this rant as my good deed for the day!