Perhaps as you’re reading this, the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is holding National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) Privacy Workshop in Boston (Monday and Tuesday, June 27 and 28).
Less than a week before the workshop, though, no agenda had been posted so we’ll have to rely on reports from attendees to know what actually gets discussed in terms of the call to the conference, which said: “The goal of this workshop is to provide a venue for discussion about developing workable policies, practices and guidelines for privacy protections as well as effective means of implementing these protections.”
BACKGROUND: White House releases trusted Internet ID plan
It’s not only the U.S. government that’s interested in Internet identity and privacy, though. The U.K. government, according to DigitalIDnews, “is working with IT companies to create a solution for identity assurance.”
A report in the U.K.’s Computer Weekly notes that Nigel Harrison of the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA) says it is likely the U.K. will soon see the emergence of multiple providers of identity assurance services specializing in different types or levels of assurance.
The plan in Britain (which would require government legislation and regulation) would supposedly ensure an open, standards-based marketplace is created in which all types and sizes of service providers are able to collaborate and compete to provide a variety of different service offerings to customers as per their differing needs. Which is very similar to the description of NSTIC, if not as all-encompassing — the U.K. plan involves mostly government websites while the U.S. plan would (eventually) involve almost all websites.
According to leaked government documents (reported by ZDNet UK): “The timescale indicated in the documents, which are all marked as ‘draft’ and not representative of government policy, seems quite tight. One-click registration for businesses would appear this year, initially through the Government Gateway portal, the Department of Health would go live in 2012, Business Link and Universal Credit services in 2013 and individual electoral registration in 2014.” That’s a much more ambitious timeline than that envisioned by NSTIC.
There are most likely similar programs in other countries which (because of language issues) I haven’t seen. But if you know, let me know, then I can let everyone know. If there’s enough international interest perhaps a joint effort — so that the identity wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented — can be undertaken.
