President Obama is putting plans in motion to give the Commerce Department authority to create an Internet ID for all Americans, a White House official told CNET.com.
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt told the website it is "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet.
The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace is currently being drafted by the Obama administration and will be released by the president in a few months.
"We are not talking about a national ID card. We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy, and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said at an event Friday at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, according to CNET.com.
Locke added that the Commerce Department will be setting up a national program office to work on this project.
The move has raised eyebrows about privacy issues.
"The government cannot create that identity infrastructure," Jim Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology told the website. "If I tried to, I wouldn't be trusted."
Schmidt stresses that anonymity will remain on the Internet, saying there's no chance that "a centralized database will emerge."
We won’t use it or accept it.
And poof, just like magic all the brain power which makes the Internet so useful will disappear and it will become a tool for Scud Farkus and Barry Soetoro.
I wouldn’t believe this Administration if they told me the Sun is hot.
I won’t do it.
It’ll be hacked in a heartbeat, it’s meaningless.
What will that prove? The need for more Fema Camps? More coffin liners?
@Chris Kitze
We need to know more details about this plan before we declare the sky is falling. The CNET article has more info and is less alarmist — so naturally the poster used the Fox News version and put up a nonsensical fearmongering image. (Which is perfectly fine with you.)
CNET says: “That news…effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates, including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The move also is likely to please privacy and civil-liberties groups that have raised concerns in the past over the dual roles of police and intelligence agencies.”
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt: “I don’t have to get a credential, if I don’t want to.” [There's no chance that] a centralized database will emerge.” And “we need the private sector to lead the implementation of this.”
The government and banking industry are concerned about cyberheists, which have been surprisingly easy to pull off (though dolts still get caught). That’s why this is going to Commerce and not the NSA or DHS.
I am alarmed about this for a practical reason. I have numerous passwords and several IDs for the different sites I visit and where I make online purchases. I would think having one password/ID for all the sites makes my online biz LESS secure, not more. If someone hacked this mega-account, they could get into everything, not just one my account at one site.
Without seeing the technical rationale, I would not opt into this proposed ID programme.