Identity for the internet will balance security and privacy

gallery

He showed deliberately hard-to-read screens from something labelled 'My VeriSign OpenID page' and referred to social networks and online gaming sites wanting to use certificates to issue identities to users. "In the next five years, possibly sooner, we think there is going to be strong demand for a service like this."

Bidzos drew parallels with the DNS infrastructure and other core services that VeriSign already runs. "The experience we have with the domain name space, the experience we have with certificates, bring us close to an identity services that solves the problems in a way we think might suit a lot of consumers." But the service would be very different from enterprise authentication, he said.

"You can't dictate to people; it has to be an opt-in system - they have to be enticed to be your customers. Consumers have to trust the process and they have to be in control. It has to be easy to use and it's going to have to be very low cost. It gives me déjà vu. People want security but it better be automatic, transparent and free."

Email to a friend

Print this page