Provisioning of digital identity representations

1. A method for provisioning a digital identity representation for a principal, comprising the steps of:

receiving input defining a descriptor for the digital identity representation;

storing the descriptor;

receiving a request for the descriptor from the principal;

sending the descriptor to the principal;

receiving a selection of the descriptor;

in response to receiving a selection of the descriptor, receiving a request through a first channel to create the digital identity representation corresponding to the selected descriptor for the principal;

issuing a second notification through a second channel that the digital identity representation has been requested;

receiving approval for the digital identity representation to be created; and

creating the digital identity representation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second notification is an electronic message sent to a known address for the principal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second notification is an electronic message sent to a third party that is different from the principal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second notification includes an electronic link to facilitate the approval.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first channel is an HTTP request and the second channel is an email.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving a second request through the first channel to create a second digital identity representation for the principal;

issuing a third notification through the second channel that the second digital identity representation has been requested;

receiving a denial of approval for the digital identity representation to be created;

sending an electronic message to a third party that the denial of approval has been received.

7. A method for provisioning a digital identity representation for a principal, comprising the steps of:

receiving input defining a descriptor for the digital identity representation;

storing the descriptor;

in response to storing the descriptor, automatically issuing a notification to the principal that the digital identity representation is available for the principal;

receiving a request to create the digital identity representation;

creating the digital identity representation, wherein the digital identity representation includes at least one authentication type requiring authentication to a digital identity representation generation system prior to accessing the digital identity representation; and

sending the digital identity representation to the principal.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the notification includes a link to an electronic site to enable creation of the request.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising the step of:

capturing data regarding the principal;

wherein the step of issuing is automatically performed following the step of capturing.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the notification is issued to a third party.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the principal is a member of a group of principals, further comprising the step of:

setting a policy that the group of principals is permitted access to the digital identity representation;

wherein the step of issuing the notification comprises issuing the notification to the group of principals.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of issuing the notification comprises sending a message to at least one application running on a principal machine that is associated with at least one of the principals in the group of principals.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the request is created by the at least one application automatically, without prompting by the at least one principal.

14. The method of claim 7 , further comprising the steps of:

cryptographically protecting a file containing the one or more digital identity representations; and

sending the cryptographically protected file containing the one or more digital identity representations to a principal machine.

15. A system for provisioning a digital identity representation for a principal, the system comprising:

at least one processing unit;

memory, communicatively connected to the at least one processing unit and storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing unit, perform a method, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving input defining a descriptor for the digital identity representation;

storing the descriptor;

receiving a request for the descriptor from the principal;

sending the descriptor to the principal;

receiving a selection of the descriptor;

in response to receiving a selection of the descriptor, receiving a request to create the digital identity representation corresponding to the selected descriptor for the principal;

creating the digital identity representation;

polling a digital identity representation generation system to determine whether a second digital identity representation is available to the principal;

determining that a second digital identity representation is available to the principal by determining that a new descriptor is available to the principal;

in response to determining that a second digital identity representation is available, automatically sending to the principal a notification that the second digital identity representation is available to the principal;

receiving a request to create the second digital identity representation; and

creating the second digital identity representation.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the notification includes a link to an electronic site to enable creation of the request.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of:

capturing data regarding the principal;

wherein the step of issuing is automatically performed following the step of capturing.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the principal is a member of a group of principals, further comprising the step of:

setting a policy that the group of principals are permitted access to the digital identity representation;

wherein the step of issuing the notification comprises issuing the notification to the group of principals.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the step of issuing the notification comprises sending a message to at least one application running on a principal machine that is associated with at least one of the principals in the group of principals.