In each European Union (EU) Member State several initiatives are underway to introduce electronic identities (eID) for public services. Identification indicates the process of using claimed or observed attributes of an entity to deduce who or what the identity is. "Authentication" is the corroboration of the claimed identity and a set of its observed attributes. A range of varying approaches and solutions have been proposed to address shortcomings inherent to cross-border electronic identity management (eIDM) approaches (e.g. federated versus centralized, driven by public or by private sector, different degrees of information assurance, different choices to trade-off between privacy and convenience). While this diversity is an inevitable and often desirable outcome of Member States,' principal competence in this field, it also complicates matters for identity (e.g. citizens, business or administration, referred to as users of any given eIDM system from a local jurisdiction.)
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