From Newtonian to Relativistic IAM: The Autonomous Principal as Reference Frame for Digital Identity

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2606.17002v1
• Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:37:43 GMT
• Title: From Newtonian to Relativistic IAM: The Autonomous Principal as Reference Frame for Digital Identity
• Abstract summary: We show that custodial identity management rests on an implicit assumption of global simultaneity that fails as soon as identity must operate.<n>The autonomous principal emerges as the only entity with standing to define its own reference frame.<n>We report on technology built since 2023 that operationalises this view, and outline its consequences for cross-border data flows and agentic systems.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: The 2023 paper \emph{Distributed Governance: a Principal-Agent Approach to Data Governance} arXiv:2308.07280 introduced the autonomous principal as the locus of transactional sovereignty in digital ecosystems. This follow-up, Part 2, advances a structural argument for why that model is not a normative preference but a consequence of taking causality seriously in distributed information systems. Drawing an analogy with the transition from Newtonian to relativistic physics, we show that custodial identity management rests on an implicit assumption of global simultaneity that fails as soon as identity must operate across ecosystems, jurisdictions, and the offline/online boundary. Once that assumption is dropped, state ceases to be a noun held by a central authority and becomes a relation maintained between principals through causally ordered exchanges. The autonomous principal emerges as the only entity with standing to define its own reference frame. We report on technology built since 2023 that operationalises this view, and outline its consequences for cross-border data flows and agentic systems.

Related papers

• Post-Deterministic Distributed Systems: A New Foundation for Trustworthy Autonomous Infrastructure [2.124730017640531]
  Post-deterministic Distributed Systems is a research and engineering model for coordinating heterogeneous environments.<n>We show that classical distributed computing models form a zero-ambiguity special case of this participant model.<n>We outline five architectural pillars of post-deterministic infrastructure: Protocol-Driven Development, Verifiable Agentic Infrastructure, Autonomous State Control Planes, Semantic Quorum Assurance, and Epistemic State Replication.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-06-01T05:37:59Z)
• Provably Secure Agent Guardrail [89.79561918065122]
  Existing defense architectures rely on empirical semantic guardrails and probabilistic large model adjudicators.<n>This paper proposes a new security paradigm for agents based on the fundamental limitations of logical reasoning.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-05-28T02:12:41Z)
• The End of Trust: How Agentic AI Breaks Security Assumptions [45.13166202592558]
  We introduce the Infinite Impostor, an attack model in which an autonomous agent interposes itself between two parties who already trust each other.<n>We propose a suspect-by-default paradigm that shifts security from authenticating actors to evaluating actions.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-05-14T21:30:06Z)
• Why Avoid Generative Legal AI Systems? Hallucination, Overreliance, and their Impact on Explainability [0.0]
  This article argues that the deployment of generative AI systems in legal profession requires strong restraint due to the critical risks of hallucination and overreliance.<n>Central to this analysis is the definition of Generative Legal AI (GLAI), an umbrella term for systems specifically adapted for the legal domain.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-16T21:40:43Z)
• A Survey of Reasoning in Autonomous Driving Systems: Open Challenges and Emerging Paradigms [49.66022971508878]
  We argue that reasoning should be elevated from a modular component to the system's cognitive core.<n>We derive and systematize seven core reasoning challenges, such as the responsiveness-reasoning trade-off and social-game reasoning.<n>We identify a fundamental and unresolved tension between the high-latency, deliberative nature of LLM-based reasoning and the millisecond-scale, safety-critical demands of vehicle control.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-11T07:40:53Z)
• The Principle of Proportional Duty: A Knowledge-Duty Framework for Ethical Equilibrium in Human and Artificial Systems [0.0]
  This paper introduces the Principle of Proportional Duty (PPD), a novel framework that models how ethical responsibility scales with an agent's epistemic state.<n>As uncertainty increases, Action Duty (the duty to act decisively) is proportionally converted into Repair Duty (the active duty to verify, inquire, and resolve uncertainty).<n>This paper applies the framework across four domains, clinical ethics, recipient-rights law, economic governance, and artificial intelligence, to demonstrate its cross-disciplinary validity.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-12-07T02:37:07Z)
• Opacity as Authority: Arbitrariness and the Preclusion of Contestation [0.0]
  Article redefines arbitrariness not as a normative flaw or a symptom of domination, but as a functional mechanism structuring human systems and interactions.<n>Building on Ferdinand de Saussure's concept of l'arbitraire du signe, the analysis extends this principle beyond language to demonstrate its cross-domain applicability.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-25T19:10:35Z)
• From Semantic Web and MAS to Agentic AI: A Unified Narrative of the Web of Agents [43.50183874732483]
  We present the first comprehensive evolutionary overview of the Web of Agents (WoA)<n>We show that modern protocols like A2A and the MCP, are direct evolutionary responses to the limitations of earlier standards like FIPA standards and OWL-based semantic agents.<n>We conclude that while new protocols are essential, they are insufficient for building a robust, open, trustworthy ecosystem.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-14T16:47:19Z)
• Agency Is Frame-Dependent [94.91580596320331]
  Agency is a system's capacity to steer outcomes toward a goal.<n>We argue that agency is fundamentally frame-dependent.<n>We conclude that any basic science of agency requires frame-dependence.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-02-06T08:34:57Z)
• Distributed Governance: a Principal-Agent Approach to Data Governance -- Part 1 Background & Core Definitions [0.0]
  We provide a model to evolve Data governance toward Information governance. This model bridges digital and non-digital information exchange. We provide a framework to deploy a distributed governance model embedding checks and balance between human and technological governance.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-08-14T17:12:07Z)
• Self-consistent theory of mobility edges in quasiperiodic chains [62.997667081978825]
  We introduce a self-consistent theory of mobility edges in nearest-neighbour tight-binding chains with quasiperiodic potentials. mobility edges are generic in quasiperiodic systems which lack the energy-independent self-duality of the commonly studied Aubry-Andr'e-Harper model.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-12-02T19:00:09Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.