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We need to hasten the day that attribute authorities (AAs) become first class entities alongside IdPs and SPs. But if each attribute authority offering attributes of potentially global interest has to join each and every R&E federation, that day will not come.
I suspect this is one reason I hear some people talking about the need for more liberal metadata publishing and consumption practices. We can't, of course, throw our federation trust fabrics out on the curb like sets of faded drapes, but a little deep thought about inter-federation scaling problems seems in order here. --Keith Hazelton (6 September 2012)
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