Using the example of Alice Baumann, how do a subject's real-world properties become a digital identity?
Real-world properties (Alice Baumann, born 16 April 1996 in Bern, HSLU student, e-mail alice@bluewin.ch) become attributes of a data object with the identifier "alice", plus a link to an authentication means, here a password.
* From Alice in the real world to the data object alice: a selection of properties plus the link to her password. *
The example shows the translation from the real to the digital world:
| Real world (subject) | Digital world (digital identity) |
|---|---|
| Alice Baumann | Identifier / username: alice |
| Born 16 April 1996 in Bern | Attributes: name Baumann, first name Alice, date of birth 16.04.1996, place of birth Bern |
| Studies at HSLU | Attribute: student = true |
| Has the e-mail alice@bluewin.ch | Attribute: e-mail |
| Has brown hair, and countless other properties | Not recorded |
| Password: link to the authentication means |
Two lessons: the digital identity is a selection of properties (brown hair is a real property but not an attribute here), which is why it is called a partial identity; and the password is not an attribute about Alice but the link to her authentication means, the piece that lets her prove the identity is hers.