Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

businessweek.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 81 posts

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#11

Post by anon_for_this_1 »

wmf wrote: post #3
mindcrime wrote: post #2

Yeah, right. Let me know how that works out for ya. Like anybody is going to trust something like this, when the US Federal Government has it's fingers in the pie. This thing is dead in the water from day 0. This idea is about as dead as the Norwegian Blue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npjOSLCR2hE

Americans just don't trust the government; that's why so few people have driver's licenses. Oh wait.

Drivers licenses are mandatory, and you get heavily fined if caught driving without it. This on the other hand is supposed to be voluntary. I certainly won't be volunteering any time soon.

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#12

Post by mycroftiv »

Whether or not this is a good idea is dependent on public knowledge of the algorithms and the availability of an open-source reference implementation. Simplifying and standardizing login/identification is obviously a worthwhile goal, and has been pursued by several projects already. I would much rather have an open, transparent standard than see something like facebook login become a de-facto standard.

It would be terrible (in addition to potential privacy/big-brother issues), however, if the system ended up favoring large providers like Google and Amazon and Apple over potential competitors, because of barriers to entry into the system or onerous implementation costs. We will need a lot more information to make a judgment about the benefits and risks.

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#15

Post by mindcrime »

jchrisa wrote: post #5

Doesn't seem so farfetched to me. If there is gonna be de facto centralized identity providers (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc) the govt may as well get in on the game. Only makes it more important that we get decentralized identity mechanisms (key based id) up and running sooner rather than later.

Only makes it more important that we get decentralized identity mechanisms (key based id) up and running sooner rather than later.

Yeah, no doubt. :-)

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#16

Post by T-R »

Atwood and others have been praising the idea of a centralized identification system for a while, and tying it to a government identification system makes sense, but tying this to the Obama administration could be a marketing disaster. I can already hear Glenn Beck associating it with Nazi Germany and advocating against its use. Similarly, its association with Verizon, AT&T, Paypal, Symantec, and Google is likely to bring its own breed of distrust. This strikes me as a project that doesn't deserve the politicization it's going to get.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#17

Post by nickpinkston »

Wait... this doesn't add up for me:

"[This will] limit fraud and streamline online transactions, leading to a surge in Web commerce" - Is this really that big of a factor in constraining online retail, or is there a greater chance of it imposing stupid rules. Who's behind this?

"Verizon Communications Inc., Google Inc., PayPal Inc., Symantec Corp. and AT&T" - Oh yea, this sounds perfectly benevolent... But who's overseeing this?

"[McConnell,] a senior counselor..." "Dept. Homeland Security..." "big reduction in the size of Internet help desks" - Since when is it the DHS's job to worry about internet help desks? Who else wants this?

"Clippinger..." "Board member... "advises...Equifax...PWC..." Nothing to see here...

I may be tin-foil hat about this, but it seems like where the companies (incl. GOOG) are trying to take net neutrality - into a controllable space with gov't teeth...

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jclippinger

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#18

Post by waterlesscloud »

nickpinkston wrote: post #17

Wait... this doesn't add up for me: "[This will] limit fraud and streamline online transactions, leading to a surge in Web commerce" - Is this really that big of a factor in constraining online retail, or is there a greater chance of it imposing stupid rules. Who's behind this? "Verizon Communications Inc., Google Inc., PayPal Inc., Symantec Corp. and AT&T" - Oh yea, this sounds perfectly benevolent... But who's over…

You'll just be able to use your government issued id to make your book purchases on Amazon. Sounds good!

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#19

Post by nickpinkston »

T-R wrote: post #16

Atwood and others have been praising the idea of a centralized identification system for a while, and tying it to a government identification system makes sense, but tying this to the Obama administration could be a marketing disaster. I can already hear Glenn Beck associating it with Nazi Germany and advocating against its use. Similarly, its association with Verizon, AT&T, Paypal, Symantec, and Google is likely to…

I don't think this is just for the Tin-Foil Hat crowd. Beck is on the extreme "gov't isn't natural, do away with it all!", but the other end of the spectrum is just as nutty in thinking that we can really control the US's corporatist system via the same gov't our big business use to gain their own influence. Am I crazy for not trusting the US to keep Corps. out of our internet?

Re: Internet Identity System Said Readied by Obama Administration

#20

Post by sdghjrjyt » 

     Happy New Year◎,◎appy shopping
●---------------------------------------● ●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------●

●------ http://goo.gl/l5v0b ------● ●---------------------------------------● Happy New Year◎,◎appy shopping

Post reply on HN