Liberty Alliance opens its doors to public

Liberty Alliance, the global identity consortium, has announced significant changes to its membership structure.

Until now, membership has been restricted to organisations. Its current 150 members include representatives from AOL, Ericsson, France Telecom, HP, Intel and Sun Microsystems.

The new measures, however, mean that individuals will also be able to join as "associate" or "sponsor" members. Furthermore, for those wanting to stay up to date with Liberty Alliance's developments but not wanting to become members, its mailing lists and special interest groups are now open to the public.

Brett McDowell, executive director, said that opening up membership and resources in this way will "help ensure wide participation in the collaborative development of open and interoperable digital identity management solutions".

With this inclusive approach, Liberty Alliance is removing barriers, which is likely to result in dramatic expansion.