An identity funny

A co-worker, with whom I've had few identity management discussions recently sent me this in IM Friday afternoon:

A telemarketer calls me:

We're happy to tell you that you telephone number has been selected for a free vacation!

So you're sending my phone number on vacation? No telemarketing calls until it gets back?

Click.

It may not been a great joke, but it really struck a nerve and made me laugh.

I'd spent much of the day trying to sort out identity aliases from a RADIUS, Diameter and EAP perspective. Those policies can be loosely summarized as... we pass around your phone number (IMSI, etc.), SIP URI or something like it and pretend it has no meaning.