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Current News |
June 24, 2008
Technology Leaders
Favor Online ID Card Over Passwords
By LAURIE J. FLYNN
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/technology/24card.html?ei=5087&em=&en=0a6f55c7a196b6a7&ex=1214452800&pagewanted=print
SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft, Google and
PayPal, a unit of eBay, are among the
founders of an industry organization
that hopes to solve the problem of
password overload among computer users.
The Information Card Foundation is an
effort to create a single industrywide
approach to managing identity online
that promises to reduce drastically the
use of passwords and create a system
that is less vulnerable to fraud.
“There is such a market requirement to
solve this problem,” said Paul
Trevithick, chairman of the new group
and chief executive of Parity, an
identity-protection technology company
in Needham, Mass., that is developing
what it calls an i-card. The foundation,
which also includes Equifax, Novell,
Oracle and nine industry analysts and
technology leaders, will try to set open
standards for the technology industry.
The idea is to bring the concept of an
identity card, like a driver’s license,
to the online world. Rather than logging
on to sites with user IDs and passwords,
people will gain access to sites using a
secure digital identity that is overseen
by a third party. The user controls the
information in a secure place and
transmits only the data that is
necessary to access a Web site.
In addition to simplifying online
shopping, such information cards will
reduce the number of phishing incidents
— that is, the fraudulent use of
someone’s identity to gain access to
financial records, according to Robert
Blakeley, a research director at the
Burton Group, a consulting firm that is
participating in the effort. “You don’t
have to depend on a password, so there’s
no phishing opportunity,” he said.
One of the biggest tasks facing the
group is getting the millions of Web
sites to support the new system, a
process analysts estimate will take a
few years.
“The technology is available today, but
what is not available today is a lot of
sites that will accept information
cards,” Mr. Blakeley said. “The mission
of the group is to assure everybody that
the industry is working together and
that it is not going to be a competitive
battlefield.”
Michael B. Jones, Microsoft’s director
of identity partnerships, said the
information card system would depend on
the support of Web site owners in the
same way that early Web browsers like
Netscape waited for the support of Web
server developers. The technology will
first be used on desktop systems but
will eventually find its way to mobile
phones and other hand-held devices, he
said.
Microsoft has been working on the
concept of an identity card for some
time. The new organization will ensure
various approaches adhere to the same
standard. |
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