An Overview of QEI

Dear friend of QEI:

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The Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure provides a solution to all of the problems caused by pervasive inauthenticity in online spaces.

Let's start with some slides. Please click on agenda item 7 here

A more recent set of slides with a more limited focus can be found here

After you have seen the slides...

MORE ABOUT QEI

QEI is not an organization. Rather, it is a set of methods, procedures, and standards for fixing the Internet.

Because, let's face it, The Internet is broken.

People tend to look to security technologists for solutions to security problems. But the technologists have done their job. The technology building materials are there. The set of building materials upon which we build our solution to Internet problems is called ID-PKI. ID-PKI was conceived in a flourish of new ideas that developed around what has been called public key infrastructure (PKI) when that technology was invented in the 1970's.

It's about the difference between highways and buildings.

The PKI enthusiasts' belief that their new technology solved everything was quite analogous to the feelings of the nineteenth century inventors of concrete and steel, who believed that their creations would cause twenty story buildings to begin popping up in cities around the world. When the practical realities of fitting new technology with an existing construction infrastructure prevented that from happening, they got discouraged. They began to doubt the relevance of their new construction materials to the practical world of real estate.

Precisely the same thing happened with PKI.

One problem with PKI is its name. It's meaningful to people who understand cryptography, but it does nothing to help the understanding of those who must be involved in its deployment. QEI fixes this admittedly trivial problem, as we will see later with our new interpretation of the initials PKI.

What is a highway?

If the Internet is, as originally purported, an information highway, then we must ask, "what is a highway?" The answer of course is that a highway is a public, outdoor transport facility. If we were to use our physical highways as we use the information highway, we would be keeping our files, holding our meetings, and letting our kids hang out in a busy outdoor rest area alongside the Interstate.

In the physical world, how do we use highways? Typically we put our vehicles onto highways to bring us to buildings. As we will see, this metaphor of physical buildings set apart from the highway has real depth. It has legs. But we must be willing to really learn from the world's experiences over centuries in making buildings useful, manageable, and secure. We are not borrowing a concept here and there. Rather, we are importing the bulk of the methods and procedures of the world of physical facilities into our world of online facilities.

A set of secure building materials does not make a secure building. That requires the services of professionally licensed architects, contractors, structural engineers and building inspectors. It requires building codes and occupancy permits. Most of all, it requires duly constituted public authority - DCPA - to stand behind those certifications and behind the certification of the identities of all involved. The inventors of PKI understood the need for something called a certification authority while treating that term glibly. QEI ensures that authority means real authority, not some technology placeholder for yet another FUD based business opportunity. More about that later.

Identity is the Foundation of Security^TM

Online buildings also require something that is not part of the design of physical buildings. Online, we don't have the usual visual and aural cues that tell us who is in the room with us -- and so we need reliable identity credentials to make online buildings work. In the physical world, the foundational identity credential is the birth certificate, issued by the vital records department at city hall. In the global village, where packets don't know anything about the boundaries between cities, provinces, nations and continents, city hall must be a world city hall. Packets also have no way of consulting a paper birth certificate, so QEI's foundational identity credential is naturally a key pair, issued by city hall.

Let's get down to specifics.

The Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure consists of twelve components - we call them "Instigations" - that turn these wonderful and under-used ID-PKI building materials into workable online buildings.

One company cannot go forward with owning all that is called for in the Instigations, especially those elements that are all about authority and governance. As the public starts to draw the comparison between physical public infrastructure and online public infrastructure, they will seek governance solutions from organizations that are chartered to provide noncommercial governance to the public. The process will be similar to that of the founding of the ITU a century and a half ago. In fact, an initiative of the ITU is where we start building our city hall for the global village. (There are commercial enterprises – our competitors – who, having perceived an absence of governance in the online infrastructure, are attempting to fill the power vacuum by selling us public governance as a commercial product.)

Let's take a tour of all twelve components of the Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure, by way of the sites of the organizations that take responsibility for each of them e are the twelve symbols of the Instigations, the components of QEI. Clicking on each will open the site of the organization that takes responsibility for that particular Instigation.

The Twelve Components ("Instigations") of QEI: (take a tour by clicking on each)

In addition to the main twelve Instigation organizations, others are involved in developing and maintaining the Instigation standards. For example, both Reliable Identities Inc. (a commercial enterprise), The Tabelio Association (an association) and The Tabelio Bureau (a commercial franchising organization) rely upon standards for enrollment officers put forth by ICCAP:

As you can see, the deployment of QEI requires the efforts of not only many organizations but many different types of organization. Some are commercial enterprises, and some, because they fill the need for public authority, cannot be commercial.

But wait, there's more!

Still other organizations produce and sell products and services that make use of licensed components of QEI:

The Osmium Group

Tying it all together...

Each of the member organizations in the QEI Alliance is accounted for in something called the Village Business Model. Around 1991 the CFO of National Review referred to the VBM as "the mother of all spreadsheets." Since then it's grown about 50-fold. However, we are in the process of taming it by making the worksheets into real SQL tables and taking its parameter-driven nature to an even better level.

One central concept of the Village Business Model is not changing in that process. Everything starts with a parameter called Exposure Units.

An exposure unit is a measure of the awareness of QEI generated in the minds of thought leaders in targeted audiences.

An exposure unit is a very elusive thing, the sort of quantity at which mathematicians roll their eyes. On the other hand, so are "eyeballs", and in the Web world measures of eyeballs have proven to be quite real and useful, if not representative of the kind of precision that mathematicians like to see. Exposure units carry some broad assumptions that will get less broad with experience.

You may be wondering...

If you're experienced enough to be skeptical about big plans for new things, you may be wondering: how real are these organizations?

Wonder no more. They are mostly prototypes of organizations that need to exist but which are now under the umbrella of the QEI Incubator, The QEI Alliance, whose site you happen to be visiting right now. Legally, the entity that for now owns all this - but which is eager not to own it all - is The Village Group, Inc.

Incubation is something that will happen only after we have recruited thought leaders in specific target audiences to get behind QEI, using the measures called for in the Village Business Model.

Where do we find these thought leaders?

We use a technique called Hourglass Marketing.

Hourglass Marketing shows that audience education is the best way to market a product or service that is based upon new concepts. Marketers generally try to avoid market education because the use of marketing techniques on an audience that is not ready to buy can be costly and generally produces disappointing results.

But Market education is education, not marketing.

Instead of trying to get target decision makers to buy products and services, the audience educator gets thought leaders (not necessarily decision makers) to purchase books, reports, and educational programs. Decision makers get their advice from thought leaders. If its underlying concepts are presented well in an educational context to thought leaders, a product or service can gain quicker and more cost effective acceptance than with traditional marketing methods.

This brings us to the answer to the question: What are we doing right now?

The answer is: we publish.

We are publishers of books and reports.

We publish books and reports for specific target audiences.

Our books and reports are for the most part derivative of the foundational volume, Quiet Enjoyment

PUBLICATIONS

a large book targeted at thought leaders in the fields related to trust engineering (cryptography, PKI, governance (as opposed to government), and selected outposts in information security.) (Most information security work is wedded to the doomed concept of packet filtering (aka firewall aka intrusion detection system aka intrusion prevention system aka unified threat management system), so most infosec experts should not be considered part of our target audiences).

Our books are published under the PKI Press imprint: (click to see PKIP site)

...and sold at

...while our reports are published under name

In marketing our publications, it is very important to keep in mind that no one is looking for them. No one is looking for a book that tells me how I can solve my hospital management problem or protect my children from predators or let my enterprise deploy trustworthy federated identity by creating a set of new layers on the Internet protocol stack and by bringing in enrollment officers to establish universal identities.

Therefore we cannot rely upon the old search engine marketing techniques by which others sell products according to what people are looking for.

Rather, hourglass marketing uses the following process:

Identify a target audience (not a market but an audience) where QEI can solve a specific problem
Identify a specific pain (not just a need but a pain, which is a need that is strong enough to evoke emotion) felt among members of that audience that is caused by that problem
Create a pain touch message that is brief enough to fit into a banner or a press release for bloggers
Create a longer message that expands upon the pain touch message
Create a title for a publication that expands upon the longer message
Create a publication, derived from QE, that introduces a thought leader to QEI and explains in detail how QEI solves the problem that underlies the pain, and other problems as well; and which calls for further action on the part of the reader
Create a landing page that includes the publication's cover image, testimonials, a "buck" (closing) message, and an offer
If the publication is a PKI Press book, ensure that it is included in the Abyx Bookstore
Identify online spaces in which thought leaders in this audience hang out
Send blog PR to editors of those online spaces, with links to the landing page
If necessary, place banners in those online spaces that link to the landing page
Sell publications
Follow up with buyers of publications to see whether they want to take the steps called for in the publication.

If you came here with your Val-ID or Tabelio credential, then click here to see a listing of target audiences, the publications that are aimed at them, and the means of reaching them. Otherwise ping Wes for the list.

Our list of thought leaders includes people who are at the very pinnacle of operating system design and development skills, to those who have no more skills with technology than the typical user of a home computer. For the latter, particularly the young, we offer

How I Like Fixed The Internet

As you may not have time to read that whole e-book, even though it's only 63 pages, half of which are cartoon illustrations (ah go ahead, we'll wait right here...) we'll share with you a revelation of its main character and narrator, a somewhat brassy teenager by the name of P. K. Iggy. Iggy lets us know that PKI stands for

Puzzle Kit Infrastructure

I send you a puzzle. If you send me the solution to the puzzle then I know that you have the secret key. (digital signature explained)

You make a puzzle with my public key and send it to me, knowing that only I, with my secret key, can solve it. (encryption explained)

If we are going to get mere mortals to embrace our new construction materials then we need explanations like that, and approachable characters like Iggy to explain how those construction materials work. Iggy is an important member of the QEI team.

For those experienced paralegals, retired immigration and consular officials, notary signing agents, court reporters, and others who think they might meet the demanding qualifications to be considered for the position of Tabelio Officer, we have

The Future Needs You

For privacy activists we lead with the PIPI Instigation:

Own Your Privacy and The Sex Life of Tables

Open source software professionals will learn how the magic of the occupancy permit in QEI delivers a new source of personal income in

The Office And The Bazaar

Parents and caregivers will learn how the authenticity that comes with QEI means that a 40 year old predator will not be able to approach their children, claiming to be a fifth grader in

Save Your Kids

Healthcare professionals will learn how they can actually meet the letter and spirit of HIPAA regulations in

Medical Buildings

Similarly, bankers will learn how to meet the letter and spirit of OFAC and FFIEC regulations, and gain a powerful new branding opportunity, in

Bank Buildings

Clergy (very influential people) will learn how their congregations can share meaningful information such as names, emails, phone numbers, kids' names, schedules etc. online in

Church Buildings

ABOUT BLOGS

Blogs are a prime channel by which we reach thought leaders. We like blogs. We tip our collective hats to blogs, which are indeed the vanguard of 21st century media.

But.

We do not blog. If we have blogs, it is because they were created by accident or in a moment of unclear thinking or to appease a partner.

Having a blog is fine for people who a) have time to spend on a soapbox or b) have a large market position to protect. We are neither of those now. Someday we will be the latter.

How then do we use blogs?

We reach specific sets of eyeballs where they are, rather than engage in the costly missionary activity of trying to aggregate eyeballs. We use blog pr to get pain touch messages to thought leaders whom we suspect are reading specific blogs, the busier the better. With that blog pr we provide a link to the landing page for that publication. In some cases the blog pr may link to one of multiple landing pages, each tailored to touch a very specific pain of the very specific portion of the particular audience served by the publication.

ABOUT THE QEI ALLIANCE

During our launch stage the QEI Alliance is an informal collection of committed individuals and organizations that have gathered to make QEI a ubiquitous reality. The best way to get an idea what it's all about is to visit the sites (mostly prototypes) of its members, which are listed here.

Site Plan for the QEI Alliance

There are five categories of things that need to be done:

1. Logos
2. Banners
3. Landing Pages
4. Engagement Sites
5. Sales Sites

1. Logos

For the twelve component infrastructures, Valen Ramon Menendez, who did the illustrations for the HIFTI book, is building on this design:

where a very simple graphic element that suggests the subject of the component infrastructure will be placed in the middle of the puzzle piece. Logos have been developed for about half of the other organizations.

2. Banners and Blog PR

Flash banners are to be placed on sites that serve the specific audiences at which our books and reports are targeted.

3. Landing Pages

After The

	11/30/2005 18:16
Domain Name	Purpose	Action	Priority
village.com	The village.com domain has been sold. The plan had been to make this the home of the Media Industry component of QEI; for now it's the site that people check out when they get a message from one of us.	Find a new domain for the Media Industry Infrastructure.	1
osmio.org	This is a municipal site for the City of Osmio. Read any of the QEI books or reports to get an idea what it's about.	Edit: all QEI Alliance organizations will be "tenants" in Osmio. This will be accomplished using links to each site but the whole overall thing must be very convincing. ITU people will be checking out Osmio.	2
squarebyte.org	book-on-site	This is a book-on-site (html). Needs a cover page that looks like a book cover plus some blurb material from the foreword.	2
authentrus.org	ENGAGEMENT SITES	use less commercial template	3
hifti.com; contents currently at http://www.pkipress.com/mss/HIFTI2.pdf	book-on-site (pdf)	make it so it loads easier (we still need to decide whether we will charge for the ebook version of this)

authentrus.com	ENGAGEMENT SITES	edit contacts page etc.	4
instigations.com	Publication Sales Site	Edit	5
abyx.com	Publication Sales Site	Add books from Ingram	6
reliableid.com	Engagement Sites	Edit	6
iccfs.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Create	7
instigations.org		Link to .com for now	8
freebookland.com		Review	9
dorren.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Review	10
kussmaul.net		Reinstall from wk laptop	11
abyx.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Reconstruct from Cindy's work	12
tabelio.com	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Develop a gate page; review; add QEI logo	12
tabelio.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Differentiate from tabelio.com; add pages	12
tabellio.com		Link to tabelio.com w spelling note	12
tabilio.com		Link to tabelio.com w spelling note	12
trustsig.org	Engagement site for the Association of World e-Trust Signatories	Looks awful - get new template and link to O&B WSIS Edition	12
vivos.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Differentiate from ReliableID.com	12
vulex.com		add links	12
lexipedia.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Create	13
notarybooks.com		Create & Show to ASN, NNA etc.	14
freebookland.com		Create	15
need domain	Village Properties	Create Village Properties site
notaryhost.com		Create & Show to ASN, NNA etc.	16
iccap.com		Link to .org	17
iccap.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Review	18
osmiumgroup.com	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Find a use for this flashy template	18
paralegalfuture.com	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Create - images exist in directory	18
pkipress.com		Edit	19
colabori.com	PUBLICATION SALES SITE	for enrollment services?	20
quietenjoyment.net	PUBLICATION SALES SITE	This SSL page tests the use of the Tabelio credential	21
osmiumgroup.org		Link to .com	22
publicroads.org	ENGAGEMENT SITE	Reconstruct from Cindy's work	23
pkibooks.com		review	25
pkiuniversity.com		Create from template	26
quietenjoyment.org	Crypto TLs	include as alternate link to .net	26
roadconstruction.org		link to publicroads.org	27
squarebyte.com		Create	28
trydoors.com	obsolete but there is usable stuff in old files associated with this domain	Find files	30
village.info	QEI solutions for HIPAA community	Create from template	31
zkgroup.org	book-on-site	Finish editing & add call to action	32

3. Landing Pages

osmio.org/trustsig-itu	WSIS and ITU Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
osmio.org/trustsig	WSIS and ITU Managers
squarebyte.org/onb	Open Source Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
zkgroup.org/tslot	Privacy Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
HIFTI.com/prosumer	Prosumers, Prosumer Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
authentrus.com/enterprise	CEOs
http://www.village.com/flash_files/final.swf	see above
quietenjoyment.net/ctl	Crypto & Trust Engineering Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
paralegalfuture.com/tfny	Paralegal-notary-signing agent Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
notarybooks.com/authenticator	Notary-signing agent-authenticator Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
notarybooks.com/wsis	UK, Canada, Australia, SA & Latin Authenticator Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
osmio.org/skypeapi	Developers using the Skype API
osmio.org/clergy	Clergy Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
osmio.org/savethekids	Parent/Caregiver Bloggers, Thought Leaders and Activists
colabori.com/sw	Marketers of Collaboration Products
authentrus.org/bankmkt	Bank Marketers
village.info/health	Healthcare Product Marketers
colabori.com/pki	PKI & Hard Token Marketers
VillageResearch.com/hibymt	Collaboration Software vendor
villageresearch.com/hibymt	SaaS Vendor
village.com/media	Audience Aggregators
osmiumgroup.org/homeland	Homeland Security Professionals
authentrus.org/ffiec	FFIEC
authentrus.org/ofac	OFAC
osmiumgrup.com/isvvar	ISV & VAR
osmiumgrup.com/insurer	Insurer

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