A Digital Identity Digest

Age Assurance on the Internet: Identity, Privacy, and the Limits of Verification

This episode explores age assurance on the internet, where digital identity, privacy, and policy collide. Heather explains why age verification, age estimation, and age assurance are not the same, and why platforms, regulators, and standards bodies are all converging on this complex problem. Discover how current approaches range from self-reported birth dates to cryptographic credentials and browser-level checks. The episode highlights the trade-offs between accuracy, data minimization, interoperability, and security, and why protecting minors online can reshape identity infrastructure across the web.

When AI Agents Start Shopping: The Emerging Architecture of Agentic Commerce

Heather Flanagan explores how AI agents are moving from browsing the web to buying on behalf of users, and what that shift means for online payments, identity, and digital trust. The episode examines mandates, delegated authority, liability, and the browser’s evolving role in agentic commerce. It also considers why identity standards, consent, and audit evidence matter as AI shopping becomes more common.

AI Browsers and the Web User Agent: What Might Need to Change?

Heather Flanagan explores how AI-enabled browsers challenge the traditional definition of web user agents and what this means for digital identity, web architecture, and standards. As browsers evolve from passive tools to active agents, long-standing assumptions about user representation and control are being tested. This episode examines the implications for user safety, automation, and accountability across the web ecosystem. It highlights emerging questions around transparency, permissions, and governance, offering insight into how standards bodies and developers may need to adapt to ensure browsers continue to prioritize and protect user interests.

When Browsers Start Acting for You: AI Browsers and the Definition of a Web User Agent

Heather Flanagan explores how AI browsers are reshaping the definition of a web user agent, challenging long-standing web architecture principles around user control, consent, and interaction. As AI-driven features evolve from assistance to autonomous action, the browser’s traditional intermediary role begins to shift in subtle but important ways. She examines key questions around delegation, accountability, and intent, including how browsers acting on behalf of users blur the line between human interaction and automation. This discussion highlights why emerging AI capabilities in web browsers demand early attention from digital identity, security, and standards communities.

Making Sense of ISO, IEC, and the Standards Maze

Heather Flanagan explores the complex world of ISO and IEC standards and why these global organizations play a critical role in digital identity infrastructure. From national body participation models to the scale of international standardization, this episode examines how these institutions shape technology far beyond traditional open standards communities. Discover how structures like ISO/IEC JTC1, the PAS transposition process, and national standards bodies influence digital wallets, mobile credentials, and regulated identity systems. Heather explains why identity architects must understand both open standards and ISO/IEC governance as digital identity increasingly intersects with government policy and global interoperability.