NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] White House Proposes Vast Federal Internet Identity Scheme
White House Proposes Vast Federal Internet Identity Scheme
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000725.html
Greetings. The White House has just released the draft of a rather
chilling document -- tellingly hosted on Department of Homeland
Security servers -- that proposes the creation of a vast,
federally-led "Trusted identities in Cyberspace" infrastructure that
would potentially reach into nearly every aspect of Internet use, from
financial transactions to comments on blogs. The White House is
seeking public comments on the proposal ( http://bit.ly/c7yZ2N [Yahoo] ).
While touted as a voluntary public/private partnership toward
universal Internet identities, it seems clear from an initial reading
that such a scheme is a preemptive push toward what would eventually
be a mandated Internet "driver's license" mentality of the sort I've
been warning against (e.g. "Saving Internet Anonymity -- The Struggle
is Joined" [May/2010] - http://bit.ly/92lq4w [Lauren's Blog] ).
It is certainly true that there are some specific situations while
using the Internet during which strong identity credentials are very
useful, and various of the problem scenarios outlined by the White
House draft are real to one degree or another. But Internet
industries have been working effectively to develop systems, such as
OpenID, that can address such concerns in a truly voluntary manner
without government involvement or interference, and without requiring
or coercing individuals into sharing identities across multiple sites
against their wills.
Let me put it this way in brief for now. Attempts by the federal
government -- or other governmental entities for that matter -- to
usurp leadership roles in any aspect of Internet identity ecosystems
should be politely but strongly rejected.
I will have much more to say about this in the future, but since many
people were already asking me about the White House draft, I wanted to
get this initial thumbnail analysis out the door as quickly as
possible.
Frankly, the concept of the federal government taking their proposed
role in this area, especially in today's political climate -- is so
obviously unwise -- and perhaps potentially dangerous -- that it's not
even a close call. This is especially true given the increasing calls
from some in government for massive Internet data retention regimes
that could easily be linked with such federally-coordinated Internet
ID systems.
I am hosting a local PDF copy of the White House draft here:
"White House Identity Draft": http://bit.ly/a98rST [ Lauren's Blog ]
You can also download the document from the Department of
Homeland Security: http://bit.ly/axrSS8 [DHS]
More to come.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein