US Proposes Voluntary Online Identity System

In a recently released report, “National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace” [PDF], the White House proposes the creation of a voluntary system in which citizens, government agencies, and businesses could register, permitting the secure provision of multiple services and commercial transactions. From the executive summary:

In the current online environment, individuals are asked to maintain dozens of different usernames and passwords, one for each website with which they interact The complexity of this approach is a burden to individuals, and it encourages behavior—like the reuse of passwords—that makes online fraud and identity theft easier At the same time, online businesses are faced with ever-increasing costs for man- aging customer accounts, the consequences of online fraud, and the loss of business that results from individuals’ unwillingness to create yet another account Moreover, both businesses and governments are unable to offer many services online, because they cannot effectively identify the individuals with whom they interact . . .

[T]he . . . “Identity Ecosystem” . . . is an online environment where individuals and organizations will be able to trust each other because they follow agreed upon standards to obtain and authenticate their digital identities—and the digital identities of devices.

The US government sees this as being something the private sector should develop with the support of government. In that regard the government proposes to develop an “implementation roadmap” and to establish a “national program office” to coordinate government and private initiatives. The report says the “Ecosystem” will take years to develop.

Outlaw.com has a story on this initiative.