Card Tech-Secure Tech may be the largest “identity” event in the Bay Area this week, but the Internet Identity Workshop may have more long term impact.

Using an open-space format the attendees are driving the content of each session and with the attendees reading like a who’s who of digital identity the quality is high. Organized by Phil Windley, Doc Searls, and Kaliya Hamlin, IIW is covering a wide range of theoretical, technical and practical aspects of digital identity.

Will it change the way you issue cards? Probably not, but the protocols and models being developed will have a tremendous impact on how those credentials are used over the next several years. The theoretical discussions about identity address areas largely skipped over in physical identity implementations. With growing concerns around privacy, especially in the credential and RFID arenas, these discussions are critical for vendors and end users, alike.

If you’re really interested in the development of identity infrastructure check out the wiki. Over the course of May 1-3, different attendess will be contributing notes and it will probably continue to be a source for the digital identity discusssions. If you’re really technical, look at the ##identity IRC channel on Freenode for Digital Identity discussions and backchannel.

If you happen to be in the Bay Area and this looks interesting, consider heading down to the Computer Museum in Mountain View, CA for Wednesday.