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US Gov't To Issue Secure Online IDs
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Tom Groenfeldt reports in Forbes that the U.S. Postal Service has awarded a contract to SecureKey to implement the Federal Cloud Credential Exchange (FCXX) designed to enable individuals to securely access online services at multiple federal agencies — such as health benefits, student loan information, and retirement benefit information — without the need to use a different password or other digital identification for each service. SecureKey already operates a trusted identity service in Canada using identification keys provided by one of five participating Canadian banks. It allows Canadians to connect with 120 government programs online with no additional user names or passwords for everything from benefits queries to fishing licenses. The SecureKey program is designed to connect identity providers — such as banks, governments, healthcare organizations, and others — with consumers' favorite online services though a cloud-based broker service. The platform allows identity providers and online services to integrate once, reducing the integration and business complexity otherwise incurred in establishing many-to-many relationships."
Read as: "License to use the Internet".
Pretty fucking clever. Soon, you won't be able to get a stock-quote or the latest XKCD without this thing - much less, send an email.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
How long until these become mandatory for all websites. Here's how I could see this going down:
...Tinfoil futures are a sure bet....we're losing the internet right in front of our faces.
- First, all major government websites require usage of this.
- As more and more brick-and-mortal government offices close, more and more people start using the id.
- VISA, MasterCard, et al begin requiring these for all online banking.
- Taxable web transactions somehow get tied by law to having to use these.
- Soon, ISPs require you to log in with it periodically, (remember AOL internet 'sessions'?)
- All utilities, bills and such paid online start requiring it.
- Social networks require it for 'think of the children' safety.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
What a terrible acronym! How are we supposed to say FCXX anyway?
So, I came up with a better one for them:
Federal User Credential Keyfob (for Your Online Utopia)
Plus, it makes identity theft that much more convenient!~
"Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
I was just thinking... a single set of credentials for every online service, what could possibly go wrong?
Posting AC because I worked on this proposal for one of the seven other candidates for this bid.
The oversight/selection committee for this consisted of people from GSA, NIST, and several other agencies. Speaking as a privacy/security nut myself, I can say their requirements were very privacy-friendly.
This system is intended to allow people to use third-party authentication mechanisms (provided by Equifax, etc.) to access government systems. The kicker is that neither side is allowed to know who the other side is. The FCCX is intended to be an anonymizer-like service to completely disassociate the public information from the federal systems.
Regardless of what some other agencies are doing (illegally, immorally, etc.), these guys were really striving - at least in the RFQ/RFP - to do it the right way.
It's cool, they're going to beta it with a key with a chip in it, but by the time the public uses it, it'll just be a barcode that they stamp on your forehead or right hand.
Kind of looks like three sixes, but I'm sure that's just a coincidence.
I am John Hurt.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Once your extreme views become fact, you're no longer a crackpot.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick