[saml-dev] RE: [security-services] Points to Make to the Press Aboutthe Int erop (and SAML generally )

[Hal Lockhart <hal.lockhart@entegrity.com>]

Title: RE: [security-services] Points to Make to the Press About the Int erop (and SAML generally )

This is not intended to be a handout nor precisely cover everything we say to the press. It was not inteded as a substitute for the thing Marc is working on.

Obviously, we need to tell the press - this is what SAML is, this is what the Demo is and so forth.

What the press will want to know is "what is the significance of this event?" "what does it mean?" "how does it fit in with other things that are going on?"  That is what I was trying to get at. In marketing terms, I am working on "positioning" SAML.

If we can come to agreement on which general points are important, we can certainly improve how they are explained.

>somewhere we need to work in the narrative we have used in the interOp document and
>demonstration.

I am not sure specifically what you are referring to. Can you cite a document section?

>Most press people actually have only a modest idea what the concept of federation
>actually means in
>a practical way. I will add some slides to the current presentation so as to illustrate
>the concept in some detail.

Actually my point on Federated Identity is not actually a part of the demonstration, since for any given session, there is only one Attribute Authority. The point I was trying to make, put in baldest terms is this: Microsoft proposed that everybody give them all their information which they would in one place and thus make it much more convenient to use the Internet. The world rejected this approach for a variety of reasons and not just because it was Microsoft. It is now largely agreed that it is neither desirable nor necessary to move all user information to one spot, if there is a technical means to communicate that information to interested parties. SAML provides that means and has encompassed this idea in its Domain Model since the very beginning.

The way I describe this in public is that today, my doctor knows certain things about me, my broker knows other things about me and my mechanic knows still other things about me. Each of them is the best person to hold that information and make sure it is kept up to date. There is no need to drag all that information to a central point and then try to somehow keep it accurate. The only reason for doing that (other than business advantages to the keeper of the repository) would be if it were the only way to make use of that information. However, with SAML we have the means to distribute the information from those who maintain it to those who need it.

>In addition, I think that some of these details also need to be added to this document, >which I presume will actually
>be handed out to the press. Is that correct? We have earlier discussed on the list the
>need for a "one page" document
>which will be handed out to the press and the participants before/after the demo. I
>assume your outline is a first
>step in that direction.

Not really, I was just trying to express what I see as key points that I would like to see a reporter use as the "lead" for a story about the event. If we don't give them a "lead" they will come up with their own. The one they came up with so far is "SAML vs. WS-Security" which is not one we want to continue.

Hal

- prateek