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Obama Eyeing Internet ID for Americans


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CBS News:


STANFORD, Calif. - President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

It's "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

That news, first reported by CNET, 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.

The announcement came at an event today at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, where U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Schmidt spoke.

The Obama administration is currently drafting what it's calling the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which Locke said will be released by the president in the next few months. (An early version was publicly released last summer.)

"We are not talking about a national ID card," Locke said at the Stanford event. "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."snip
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pollyannaish

OK. Hold on a second.

 

We can't ask people for ID to vote because that is too invasive and potentially discriminatory, but we can do this?

 

Oy.

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Does the eroding of our liberties never end with these people?

 

Why am I not surprised this idea comes from former Washington Governor Gary Locke?

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pollyannaish

Does the eroding of our liberties never end with these people?

 

Why am I not surprised this idea comes from former Washington Governor Gary Lock?

 

Not surprised one bit. And the first person in line to hop the bandwagon will be Christine.

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