In this episode of The Digital Identity Digest, learn why the idea of an “AI system” is quietly breaking down under modern AI governance and deployment realities. Heather Flanagan examines how agentic workflows, standards debates, and policy frameworks are exposing gaps between governance language and real-world AI architectures.

Discover how this disconnect affects digital identity, accountability, and interoperability, and why unclear definitions create governance risk. Learn why engineers, standards bodies, and policymakers are struggling to align, and why fixing AI language is essential to building enforceable, trustworthy identity and governance frameworks.

In this episode of The Digital Identity Digest, Heather Flanagan offers a practical field guide to digital identity standards, explaining how organizations like the OpenID Foundation, W3C, IETF, and FIDO Alliance shape specifications, drafts, and published standards through very different processes and cultures.

Discover how to interpret standards maturity, understand what a draft really means, and evaluate where work sits in the standards development lifecycle, helping implementers, architects, and policy professionals better assess risk, readiness, interoperability, and real-world impact across the digital identity ecosystem.

In this episode of The Digital Identity Digest, Heather Flanagan reflects on Gartner IAM and what it reveals about digital identity decision-making, identity access management priorities, and enterprise buying behavior. The conversation explores how process, not product, often drives outcomes in real-world IAM programs.

Learn why overlooked process maturity, invisible identity standards, and interoperability gaps matter, and discover how AI hype distorts expectations across IAM platforms. This episode connects operations, standards, and incentives, offering practical insight for architects, security leaders, and teams navigating sustainable digital identity strategies.

In this episode, Heather Flanagan looks back at the most read Digital Identity Digest posts of 2025, exploring what resonated across digital identity, governance, credentials, and AI. The recap reveals patterns behind shifting priorities, recurring debates, and the questions shaping standards work and system design.

Discover how topics like agentic AI and authentication, delegation, decentralization, interoperability, and credential terminology signal where identity architecture is headed. The episode explains why governance matters more than technology alone and why clear language and standards alignment are critical for resilient, trustworthy digital identity systems.

In this episode Heather Flanagan examines how web payments and digital identity are converging at the W3C, exploring digital wallets, browser-based APIs, and regulatory pressure shaping modern payment flows and trust on the web today as standards discussions reveal shifting assumptions across ecosystems.

Discover how Secure Payment Confirmation, passkeys, browser-bound keys, and the Digital Credentials API influence fraud prevention, interoperability, and auditability, and why agentic AI, mandate-based consent, and wallet fragmentation make identity design decisions increasingly critical for payments, institutions, and users worldwide.

In this episode of The Digital Identity Digest, Heather Flanagan explores how two emerging browser APIs—FedCM and the Digital Credentials API—are reshaping the identity layer of the web. Learn why browsers are shifting from passive intermediaries to active participants as privacy reforms and regulatory pressure accelerate.

Discover how these APIs differ in governance, user experience, and architectural philosophy, and why their proximity raises questions about future convergence. In this episode, explore what this evolution means for federated login, verifiable credentials, wallet ecosystems, and the broader digital identity landscape.

In this episode, discover how today’s rapidly shifting digital identity landscape is bringing new practitioners into the field and challenging long-held assumptions about IAM, trust frameworks, and governance. Learn why even foundational concepts can feel unexpectedly complex as identity becomes integral to products, security, and global compliance.

In this episode, discover how community expertise, evolving standards, and differing approaches to risk shape modern digital identity work. Learn why embracing collaboration, asking better questions, and thinking both locally and globally helps practitioners build resilient, future-ready identity systems that can adapt to constant change.

This episode explores what the “open web” truly means amid shifting standards, AI automation, and evolving economic pressures. Drawing on discussions from IETF 124 and W3C TPAC, it highlights how browser architects, policy experts, and researchers are reexamining long-held assumptions about access, interoperability, and the role of automated agents.

Learn why openness isn’t a binary state but a multidimensional spectrum shaped by values such as attribution, consent, and continuity. The conversation offers a grounded look at how technical governance and community norms must adapt to keep the web both usable and sustainable.