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ways. For example, Equifax is a consumer credit reporting company that has
information about 200+ million people. They know your name, your last few
addresses, your phone number, and in many cases your mortgage balance! So
when they ask you for certain information they can compare it to what is in their
database and if there is a match the odds are very high that they can indeed be
sure that you are who you say you are. With this assurance they can issue you a
digital ID or provide the information to another third party who can THEN issue
you the digital ID.
Digital IDs are actually being issued already in some parts of the world.
Singapore and Taiwan have established guidelines that provide for CA’s. Europe
has established a directive that will enable CA’s across the continent. In fact the
Ministry of Finance in Spain issues digital ID’s that allow citizens to make their
tax payments over the Internet. A Spanish citizen can log on to the site by
entering their password into their browser. The digital ID is stored in the browser
and does not have to be passed over the Internet in the clear. Once
authenticated, the Spanish citizen can pay taxes or check the status of tax
payments. The U.S. government in July 2000 passed legislation that will allow
CA’s to be established that can enable digital signatures to be used anywhere in
the country.
Once you get a digital ID, where do you keep it and how does it work? There are
two parts to your digital ID; a public part and a private part. The public part is
something you want to make easily available to anyone. This will be described in
more detail a little bit further on. The private part of your ID is something you will
keep very private and never share it with anyone. Where will your digital ID be
stored? There will be a lot of choices including on our PC hard drive, in our
mobile phone, in smart cards in our wallet, in a PCMCIA card, in an electronic
ring on our finger, or in a token we wear around our neck. A company called
KeyNetica is developing products that will enable a broad spectrum of Internet
users - everyday people who do everyday things like banking and shopping - to
move among many different Internet access devices during the course of a day
using a portable personal identification tool that they can use on almost any
computer via a “USB flash memory key”. Since all PC’s shipped today have a
USB “port” used to plug in printers, digital cameras, and other devices, the USB
flash memory key could enable you to plug your digital ID into any PC anywhere.
Wherever you keep it, the digital ID is a very empowering capability.
Does a digital ID mean we lose our privacy? No, quite to the contrary. By having
a Digital ID you can establish not only who you are but what privacy preferences
you want to stand by. If you choose to be anonymous you will be able to.
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