SOAP: Clean and Secure
By Paul Sholtz
Web services offer an innovative approach to distributed computing, in which software components are designed and built as discrete services, deployed globally on the Internet, and then dynamically assembled into complex distributed applications. If the hype becomes reality, such services will make life easier not only for developers but for end consumers as well.
For example, say you're on a flight from Boston to L.A. when a massive storm breaks out in the Midwest. The pilot has to fly two hours out of the way to get around it, and now you're at risk of losing your car rental and hotel reservation because you won't arrive on time. Luckily, your airline offers Web services updates, because now everyone involved can be notified instantly of your new arrival time. Your car will still be waiting for you, you'll still have a clean hotel room to sleep in, and your business associates might even be pinged on their Blackberry pagers.
It sounds nice. Advances in information technology are supposed to make our lives simpler and easier. But dig a little deeper, and you'll quickly uncover several important privacy issues. To accurately respond to your late arrival, the Web services infrastructure needs to know many details about who you are, where you are (in real time), and what you're about to do. Service providers must operate this infrastructure with an extraordinarily high level of integrity and in a way that promotes customer trust. The model even faces potential legal difficulties: For reasons of public safety, most countries prohibit airlines from publicly disclosing passenger flight lists.
