The UK government’s national ID card system should be
based on open-source standards to build flexibility into the
scheme, says a leading identity standards
organisation.
The recommendation comes from the Liberty Alliance, which is
seeking to drive the take-up of open-standard solutions to deliver
web-based federated identity management.
Backed by the likes of IBM and Sun, the Liberty Alliance argues
that open standards are the only way forward if the national ID
scheme is to make it easier to deliver government services to the
public, as well as improve national security.
The government aims to start issuing national ID cards by 2008,
but it is still not clear what type of platform it intends to use.
Federated identity management on the web allows consumers or
employees to access different websites using the same username and
password.
Donal O'Shea, executive director of the Liberty Alliance, said a
federated open-source approach to supplying government information
and services “was the only way”, as long-term government databases
needed built-in flexibility so they could be easily changed to
support new and updated services.