Volume IV

Issue : 5: March 9, 2006

• Yahoo! Restricts Bids on Competitors Trade marked Keywords
• Missouri Attorney General Targets Another Cell Phone Records Provider
• IBMs New Consumer Identity Protection Program
• Vonage Canada Complains About "VoIP Tax"
• FTC Settles with Cardsystems over Data Breach
• Toronto Hydro Plans Wireless Internet Access for Downtown
• RIM Concludes Patent Battle With $612.5M Payment to NTP
• Alberta Privacy Commissioner Issues Report on Outsourcing

Home > Volume IV > Issue 5: March 9, 2006 > IBMs New Consumer Identity Protection Program

IBMs New Consumer Identity Protection Program

In the age of rampant identity theft, questions have been mounting about the integrity of one’s personal information on the Internet. Recently, major software providers have turned their attention to the topic of identity management. For example, Microsoft has released an identity management technology called InfoCards, which will be a “Windows only” system and will be featured in new operating system releases.

IBM, however, has taken a different approach towards this type of technology. It has partnered with Novell, Parity Communications and Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society to produce “Project Higgins”. The underlying principle of the project is that people do not have a single online identity, but rather, multiple identities, which they should control.

Rather than being server-based, Project Higgins is “user-centric” and will allow users to retain control over their personal information. The theory is that users can delegate with specificity what personal information is shared, and with whom. The expectation is that it will make users more comfortable with sharing personal information on the Internet in appropriate contexts.

A further distinction between Project Higgins and Microsoft’s new system is that Project Higgins will be open-source rather than native to a particular operating system. This will facilitate easy integration with third party identity management systems and will simply make the software more accessible.

Why the name Project Higgins? According to IBM’s press release, the project is named after the Tasmanian long-tailed Higgins mouse. Apparently, this was selected to “reflect today’s ‘long tail’ of micro-markets that complement traditional industries”.

For additional information, visit:

http://www.itjungle.com/two/two030106-story01.html

For information on Berkman Centre for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, visit:

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home

For information on IBM’s Project Higgins press release, visit:

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19280.wss wss