Along with requiring the use of employee and contractor secure ID cards to log on to networks, Schmidt's office also is reviewing comments on the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and its implementation plan.
Agencies, vendors and other experts submitted comments July 19 on the strategy and later in the July on the implementation plan.
The plan, which Federal News Radio obtained, calls for the government "to establish a National Program Office that will take the lead on federal coordination and is responsible for advancing the goals of the strategy," and "create a comprehensive list of the activities needed to enact the full vision of the strategy," including plans to accelerate the expansion of government services, pilots and policies for identity ecosystem, work to implement enhanced privacy protections and coordinate the development of risk models and interoperability standards.
Schmidt says the strategy could be to the President for his signature by the fall.
"It's been an interesting exercise on that," he says. "I've found over and over again that there is no shortage of opportunities for people to misunderstand something that is written. I still get e-mails from people talking about the government taking over identities in cyberspace. For those you that have actually read the draft, you can see that it's quite the opposite. What we are trying to do is look for an ecosystem out there that people can voluntarily participate in whether they want some strong identity to financial transactions or do e-commerce or nothing at all that they want to do. That's their choice."
He adds whatever comes from the strategy will not be a government entity, but rather a private sector, non-profit or a consortium to build the system that gives the citizens the opportunity to do as little or as much as they want.
Is participation really voluntary? Isn't that a bit like arguing that having a telephone in today's society is purely voluntary? No law requires you to get one, but can most people get by without one? Or without a driver's license, if you don't live in an urban area?
Also, the Implementation Plan linked above that Federal News Radio says it obtained is marked "For Official Use Only" and "Not for Distribution." Perhaps making the plan officially publically available on the White House web site would reduce "opportunities for people to misunderstand something that is written."
Note also that the official comment period on the strategy ended on July 19, 2010, just three weeks after the draft strategy was released. That is a very short time for comment by analytical organizations, civil rights groups, and academia.
An MP3 file of the FNR news story and interview can be downloaded at this link.
Leave a Reply