Title:

Title:    D8.5: “Report on inter-disciplinary workshops”

Author(s):

Editor(s):

Reviewer(s):    Martin Meints (ICPP)
James Backhouse (LSE)

Identifier:    D.8.5

Type:    [Deliverable]

Version:    1.0

Date:    Friday, 21 April 2006

Status:    [final]

Class:    [Public]

File:    

Copyright Notice: 

This document may not be copied, reproduced, or modified in whole or in part for any purpose without written permission from the FIDIS Consortium. In addition to such written permission to copy, reproduce, or modify this document in whole or part, an acknowledgement of the authors of the document and all applicable portions of the copyright notice must be clearly referenced. 

The circulation of this document is restricted to the staff of the FIDIS partner organisations and the European Commission. All information contained in this document is strictly confidential and may not be divulged to third parties without the express permission of the partners. 

All rights reserved. 

PLEASE NOTE: This document may change without notice – Updated versions of this document can be found at the FIDIS NoE website at www.fidis.net.

Table of Contents 

Executive summary 

FIDIS is a multidisciplinary Network of Excellence and its work is structured into separate research activities. One of these activities is Workpackage 8 (WP8), “Integration of the NoE”, that aims at developing interrelations between partners active in different Workpackages by such activities as: organising events where different FIDIS partners may meet, merging subjects from different disciplines, and by raising questions on challenging issues. In this regard, three interdisciplinary, integration workshops were organised during the 2nd FIDIS work plan to address the objectives and main subjects of WP8:

1. Preventing Identity Theft  

2. Identity, Emerging Technologies and Trust 

3. Identity Challenges in a Mobile World.  

The organisation of integration workshops seeks to intensify interaction, foster consensus and develop a common knowledge base in order to generate permanent links between FIDIS partner organisations. In line with these objectives, these integration workshops aim at maximising knowledge sharing and spreading of excellence. To this aim, external (non-FIDIS) experts were also invited to speak at these workshops to contribute their knowledge and expertise on the relevant subjects. As well as being thematically focused, these interdisciplinary workshops sought to converge diverse identity-related subjects, to raise interesting questions and to challenge fundamental notions. The purpose was to identify and bridge gaps in the knowledge base, while promoting Network integration. 

This report presents the outcome of all the planned and executed events within the framework of WP8 and as such it describes deliverable 8.5. The three workshops are presented in three chapters and then some conclusions are also drawn. The main aims and results are presented below: 

For the first WP8 event / workshop, the target was to bring together partners from WP3 and WP5, i.e. identity-related technologies and de-identification technologies. Hence, the workshop’s goal was to identify relevant issues and examine actions and solutions associated with identity theft/fraud. The workshop was organised in cooperation with FIDIS partner Tilburg University who leads WP5. Thus, the central topics of this WP8 event were: 

• Technologies to protect / secure data from abuse and  

• Processes and methods to counter identity fraud. 

An analysis of a working definition for the complex concept of “Identity Theft” from the legal, technological, and social context was the main result of this workshop. Biometrics, RFID and other identity related and emerging technologies were debated as to their potential for curbing identity fraud. 

The second WP8 event / workshop aimed at merging issues from WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP7; its main goal being the identification of relevant issues and the examination of actions and solutions associated with emerging identity technologies and trust. The workshop was organised by IPTS WP8 Leader in cooperation with FIDIS partner VIP and the central topics were: 

• How to build trust? What processes and methods enable trust? 

• Which technologies can provide a trusted framework to deal with identity information? 

• What is the role of identity in emerging technologies? 

An analysis of the main dimensions of trust and their legal, social and technological components, presented in a table form was the main result of this workshop. Privacy models, anonymising techniques, strong encryption and biometrics were all considered as likely solutions to enhance trust. 

The objective of the third WP8 event / workshop was to identify relevant issues and examine actions and solutions associated with identity challenges in a mobile world, merging issues from WP5, WP6, WP7 and WP11. The aim here was to consider identity challenges in mobile communications as well as of individual mobility needs. Thus, the central topics were: 

• How does mobility in the information society emerge? In what way are new technologies influencing mobility?

• What is the relationship between identity and mobility? What is the role of the user? How to meet the different requirements of identity in a mobile and non-mobile world? 

• What is the impact of mobile services on information society? What are the issues, challenges or opportunities that stem from the issue of mobility? 

User requirements when developing mobile applications were extensively debated as were possible Digital Rights Management solutions and international standardisation initiatives for mobile applications in the Academic world. The panel discussions that followed revolved around the emergence of challenges that are being dealt with as well as “dark areas”, namely negative aspects, related to mobile identity. 

In this context, through the WP8 workshops, integration and networking of FIDIS partners has been facilitated and promoted, by means of the opportunity to come together, exchange knowledge, information and expertise. It was also possible to develop content integration between the various Workpackages of FIDIS, since the subjects selected for each workshop drew from issues addressed in the various Workpackages. Furthermore, in the context of these workshops, and especially through the discussions and debates, research gaps have been identified for future consideration.