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.

Digital identity wallets are becoming a central focus in global identity conversations, driven by regulatory pressure, rapid technical evolution, and growing expectations around interoperability. This episode examines how layered architectures, protocol choices, and platform behaviors shape the user experience in ways that are often misunderstood.

Listeners will learn why the Digital Credentials API (DCAPI) is frequently blamed for issues it cannot control, how differing operating system and browser implementations create fragmentation, and why meaningful governance and clear technical boundaries are essential for secure, privacy-respecting digital identity ecosystems.

This episode explores the regulator’s dilemma at the heart of digital infrastructure, where accountability, compliance, and governance reshape the systems they aim to protect. Heather Flanagan examines how modern identity, critical infrastructure, and risk management challenges emerge as digital environments outgrow traditional oversight models.

Listeners will learn why compliance-era controls no longer match today’s API-driven reality, how sovereignty contributes to Internet fragmentation, and why resilience now depends on coordination and shared accountability. The discussion offers a clear, thoughtful perspective on evolving digital identity governance.

When every digital system is labeled as critical infrastructure, do we actually make the Internet safer—or just more fragile? In this episode of The Digital Identity Digest, Heather Flanagan examines the growing tension between protection, control, and interdependence in our global digital ecosystem.

Through examples from the U.S. and EU, Heather explores how expanding definitions of “critical” can blur accountability, create policy confusion, and undermine true cyber resilience. Listeners will learn why meaningful protection requires prioritization, coordination, and a more selective approach to digital infrastructure security.

When AWS went down, payments failed and digital life froze — exposing how fragile our cloud-based world really is. In this episode of Digital Identity Digest, Heather Flanagan explores why AWS, Stripe, Twilio, and Okta have become the new critical infrastructure of global commerce.

Discover how invisible digital dependencies shape resilience, why uptime isn’t true stability, and what “too big to fail” means in the age of APIs. Essential listening for anyone in digital identity, cloud computing, cybersecurity, or tech policy.