RE: [security-services] Proposed Charter Update

["Linn, John" <jlinn@rsasecurity.com>]

Scott wrote, excerpting:

I don't think that identity federation per se has much impact on whether
SAML does or doesn't fit with those technologies. Done with minimalism in
mind, the SAML data, domain, and processing models don't know anything in
particular about federation, nor does SSO. Identity federation is simply one
way of looking at identity, no differently than X.500 is another.

[JL] Fully agree.  I see identity federation as having two basic components:
the ability to deliver different representations of a principal's identity
to different relying parties, and facilities to establish and manage those
delivered identity representations.  Representation of identity is clearly a
core aspect of an authentication service, and federation enables those
representations to be provided in forms that best suit the requirements of
the principals and relying parties involved.  It's not clear to me why
supporting this particular aspect of an authentication service should
complicate integration with other middleware services outside SAML scope.

--jl