Law professor Ian Kerr is leading a major international research project worth $4 million over four years to investigate all aspects of anonymity, identity and authentication in a world rapidly being overtaken by global electronic networking.
Kerr, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology at the University of Ottawa, is currently in Barcelona as Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra where he is also conducting research.
The massive project, funded largely by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, brings together a 23-member team of North American and European researchers from the academic, public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. Three major corporate partners are BellCanada, IBM Canada and Entrust Technologies. The SSHRC grant totals nearly $3 million and is boosted by another $1 million in outside contributions.
“We don't want to live in a world where it is prima facie assumed that one's identity needs to be authenticated for every single action and where we will later carve out some space where we can remain private or confidential,” Kerr said in an interview.
The research team crosses an extremely wide range of disciplines from Los Angeles to Washington and from Calgary to London. It includes philosophers, ethicists, cognitive scientists, lawyers, cryptographers, engineers, policy analysts, government policy makers, business leaders and high-tech security experts.
The research project takes a three-pronged approach to the subject. These are
Among the many goals of the project, says Kerr, participants will examine the impact of technology on existing laws and possibly lay the foundation for public policies governing personal communication and commerce.
