Where Web Users Go, Personal ID Will Follow

摘要

Eighteen companies have formed a consortium to collaborate on redefining how online identities are established, managed and optimized. The group's members believe that a federated identity approach will enable the next generation of the Internet, which will be characterized by federated commerce. This consumer- and business-friendly concept means that when traveling virtually within a federation of participating goods or service providers, an individual will have to sign on only once and will be able to advance through levels of authentication and authorization without starting the process over at each provider's electronic gate. Collectively calling themselves the Liberty Alliance, the founding companies have opened membership to any organization, including nonprofits and government agencies, and 2,000 firms already have expressed interest. They seek to develop interoperability standards and common protocols for managing network identity to implement ubiquitous single sign-on, decentralized authentication, open authorization and security from any Internet-enabled device.