As generative AI evolves, a Google VP warns that LLM wrappers and AI aggregators face mounting pressure, with shrinking margins and limited differentiation threatening their long-term viability.

Erlend did a pretty good job responding to the “Be wary of Bluesky” article, but I’ll add a couple of other comments

Mood

Understanding the FIDO Alliance’s Standards and Working Groups Heather Flanagan explores why the FIDO Alliance can feel difficult to follow from the outside, and why that silence is often misunderstood. This episode examines how FIDO’s approach to standards development differs from more open…

Chairs run the process. Contributors write the standards. If you want to influence how specs actually turn into something implementable, this post breaks down the skills that make contributors effective and trusted.

Twenty-three hours before my first international trip of the year. Amsterdam in February is not my favorite, but the small conference will be fun to facilitate (tiime-unconference.eu).

Internet shutdowns make Internet fragmentation real. They’re not technically hard, and they’re becoming normal. Using Iran as a case study, this post looks at how shutdowns work, why they’re increasing, and what they mean for identity, platforms, and global interoperability.

“It is impossible to protect privacy from authoritarianism without addressing consumer privacy.” - from Daniel J. Solove, Privacy in Authoritarian Times - final published version here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... #PrivacyMatters

This week’s mantra turned out to be: “Murder is a choice I am not making today.”

OH in a meeting: “They are like assholes. Everyone has them, and everyone should have just one.”

Digital credentials don’t standardize themselves. A candid tour of the OpenID DCP Working Group: what’s done, what’s dormant, and where real momentum exists—from OpenID4VC, HAIPm and conformance, to ISO alignment and hard tradeoffs.

New use for ChatGPT: write the text for an angrygram email, feed it to ChatGPT requesting a more professional version, and use that for the actual email. Doesn't make me personally less angry, but at least I sound professional about it!

I can haz sweater! I could have gone a bit more drawn in at the waist, but it’s pretty good. Now to figure out what to do with the remaining 500yards of Aran weight Shetland 3-ply.

Looking at my stats, gotta say that people do surprise me. I didn’t expect my Field Guide to Digital Identity Standards Bodies or Web Payments and Digital Identity Standards to be the most-listened episodes of my audioblog, but here we are. Thanks; it makes the effort to produce them feel worth it.

Finishing off the last quart of sweet cider we made this past apple season. I definitely need to make more next year!

I spent winter break reading a backlog of info on AI policy, standards, and deployment. One pattern I noticed: we’ve been using the term “AI system” as a shared shorthand, even though we don’t actually agree on what it refers to in practice. I have thoughts on that. #AI #AIpolicy #standards

This is not a thrilling post. It is a reference. I put together a field guide to how identity standards actually get made across the IETF, W3C, OpenID Foundation, and FIDO. I’ll be pointing back to this all year. #standards #OIDF #IETF #W3C #FIDO

My first post of 2026 is up. Notes from Gartner IAM on process vs product, where standards disappear in buying conversations, and the irony of AI hype warnings surrounded by AI marketing. Walking the floor was… instructive. #Gartner #IAM

2025’s top posts are in: AI agents, delegation headaches, governance gaps, and the slow fragmentation of the Internet. Here’s a roundup of what sparked the most discussion this year — and what these trends suggest for 2026.

Not only is the hoodie finished, it is now feline approved and covered in cat spit.

I spent some time with the Web Payments discussions at W3C TPAC, and wow—there’s a lot shifting between payments and digital identity. Here’s my take on what stood out based on a review of the meeting minutes. #DCAPI #WebPayments #DigitalCredentials

If you’re wondering what the Internet has become, Cloudflare Radar offers a good overview. In the top 10, there’s nothing outside the large conglomerates. I hope we can change this trend over the next 10 years. #internet #openinternet #diversity #opensource […] [Original post on paperbay.org]

How “smart” and “dumb pipe” identity APIs are reshaping the browser’s role in digital identity. What happens when FedCM and the DC API sit this close together? #FedCM #DigitalIdentity #DCAPI #WebStandards #IdentityStandards

Work in progress, with feline supervision. (Tracy hoodie, patten by Cocoknits)

The Identiverse Call for Proposals is open, which means it’s officially “that time” again. You know the time: when the hallway rants, hard lessons, and half-formed ideas either stay memes… or become talks. If you’ve got a topic you keep wishing someone would cover—this is your sign. 📝

Four speaking engagements are now official in Q1 2026: TIIME, The Identity Salon, BSides Seattle, RSAC (this last one confirmed today). Whew.

New post is live! While I’m moderating a panel at Gartner IAM, I’m sharing my own answers to “What I Wish I Knew When I Started in Identity.” Reflections, early lessons, and a few surprises. #DigitalIdentity #IAM #IdentityProfessionals

The paw crossing as she “helps” me pack is killing me.

I mean, srsly, I don’t know how people *live* that don’t get into their jammies and into bed with a lovely heating pad and warm blankies at 6pm every night. Also, get off my lawn.

Look, we also voted for Brexit, and Boaty McBoatface, but my faith in the wisdom of the British people has been given a lift: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

I work with Andi Hindle and Ian Glazer on something called The Identity Salon — a small, invitation-only space where senior identity folks talk about the stuff you can’t really talk about on conference stages.

I gotta say this for this heavily commercialized time of year: it makes it a lot easier to see what mailing lists I'm on and unsubscribe from all the marketing things.

Robots, Humans, and the Edges of the Open Web This episode explores what the “open web” truly means amid shifting standards, AI automation, and evolving economic pressures. Drawing on discussions from IETF 124 and W3C TPAC, it highlights how browser architects, policy experts, and researchers are…

Now that I've spent the last six hours on blog posts, I have reached the point where I need to step into the kitchen and decide: After I make chocolate chip cookies, what wine will go best with them? Decisions must be made.

📻 The 4th Episode of @whatthespec.bsky.social is up on your favourite podcast platform! @sphcow.bsky.social joins me to talk about digital identity on the web, verifiable credentials and Verifiable Credentials Transcript & show notes: lolaslab.co/what-the-spe... Listen and share 😆

Digital identity wallets rely on a stack of standards and platform layers that often get mixed up. The DC API is in draft, the OS layer is proprietary, and regulators are pushing for outcomes that cross all of it. This post unpacks what’s really happening behind the scenes. #standards #wallets

Grocery shopping ftw! I decided to go to the store today to buy All The Usual Things so I wouldn't get caught up with all the people who will be shopping this weekend for All The US Turkey Day Things. Yay for planning and avoiding humanity!

In the early 2000s, the Enron scandal reshaped how we think about accountability. Today, those same regulatory instincts define our critical infrastructure. What happens when the systems we depend on move faster than the rules meant to protect them? #Internet #Compliance #Regulation

Every outage sparks the same question: who’s responsible for keeping digital life online? In my new post, The Paradox of Protection, I look at how “critical infrastructure” keeps expanding—and why that might be making us less safe. When everything is critical, nothing truly is. #internet

APIs and cloud platforms have become the new utilities of modern life. But labeling them “critical infrastructure” may not make us safer. Maybe the goal isn’t regulation—it’s resilience. #criticalinfrastructure #techindustry #Internet

Some social media algorithms (looking at you, LI) are such a PITA. A blog post published this morning has been shown to all of 60 people over the course of eight hours. Probably because it has a link that takes people off the site. Boooo.

The Internet isn’t universal anymore. Trade wars, tariffs, and sovereignty rules are raising costs. This post looks at how standards must adapt—shifting from universality to layered models that balance incentives with new barriers. #Standards #Internet #FutureTech

Overall, a great read on photo surveillance. “One of the biggest dangers of facial recognition is not a corporation running an advanced camera with fancy sensors, it’s an angry Taylor Swift fan who doxes you using a regular picture of your face.” from @404media.co www.404media.co/zennis-anti-...

Demographics ultimately decides who builds tomorrow’s systems. Aging powers shrink, youthful regions rise, but they’re not yet in the standards room. My latest post explores why people are a big part of how the Internet is fragmenting.

Interesting experiment in making apple butter this month. The first batch, I carefully cored all the apples (including the little cider apples), which was a royal PITA. The resulting apple butter, though, was tasty and had the consistency of thick apple sauce.

The Declaration of Independence specifies 27 grievances with King George III and Britain. Donald Trump and his regime have committed at least 20 of those same offenses highlighted in yellow. #NoKings

Original post: mastodon.social/@arstechnica...

Why Tech Supply Chains, Not Protocols, Set the Limits on AI and the Internet I had one of those chance airplane conversations recently—the kind that sticks in your mind longer than the flight itself. My seatmate was reading a book about artificial intelligence, and at one point they described the…

I'm very excited to announce that @sphcow.bsky.social is joining us as a speaker at SW2con.com! Heather joins Adrian Cockcroft, Adam Seligman, Paul Kedrosky....oh, and @mikemaney.bsky.social....join us!

We've launched registration for sw2con.com! Our early confirmed speakers include: Adrian Cockcroft, Adam Seligman, Paul Kedrosky....and, @mikemaney.bsky.social. Join us!