Kim Cameron

Bio

Kim Cameron (1948 to 2021) joined Microsoft in 1999 through its acquisition of ZoomIt, the digital identity company he co-founded, became architect of Active Directory, and served as the company's chief identity architect. He wrote The Laws of Identity in 2005 and created the InfoCard architecture that shipped as Windows CardSpace. He retired from Microsoft in 2019 and died in November 2021.

Profile built from public employer, publication, and press records. Included because his work still sets the terms of the field.

Where their work shows up

The Laws of Identity argued, in 2005, that a system should reveal the minimum information needed, disclose it only to parties with a justifiable need, and put the user in control of what is released. Nothing in that sentence was achievable with the technology of the time. It is close to a specification for verifiable credentials, selective disclosure, and the EUDI wallet two decades later. CardSpace failed commercially and was right early, which is also most of what decentralized identity is now trying to finish.