Stefan Brands podcast

Dave Birch recently interviewed leading cryptographer Stefan Brands, whose company Credentica has developed a set of technologies that enable "multi-party security": for instance, allowing the government to vouch securely for my age, but also for me to "spend" that assertion with the local pub (via a smart card) without either the government knowing I have done so or the pub knowing any more than that I am over 18.

If adopted in schemes such as our national ID Card here in the UK, Credentica's U-Prove technology could transform our ability as citizens to negotiate control over information (rather than that control being hard-wired into the technology, as the current government scheme would entail). It's a really important issue for people to understand, so I heartily encourage you to listen to the podcast:

• listen now (mp3)
  
• subscribe in iTunes