Something for AOLer's to look into...
TECHNOLOGY: AOL joins
online ID effort
In a move aimed at thwarting Microsoft
Corp. dominance of online identification
technology, AOL Time Warner Inc. has joined
a coalition of companies working to develop
a competing platform. AOL announced
Tuesday it would aid the Liberty Alliance
Project, a group of almost three dozen
companies working on an identity
authentication and payment program that
will compete with Microsoft's Passport
system. Liberty Alliance seeks to allow
Internet users to log in once but gain access
to various Internet resources that require
authentication. Microsoft's Passport system
already offers the same capabilities.
pioneerplanet.com
Related story...
Web Users Pass On Passport-Style ID Services - Gartner
By Robert MacMillan, Newsbytes
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.,
04 Dec 2001, 12:26 PM CST
Most online shoppers prefer the hassle of multiple Web site
registrations rather than having one specific identification for every
site they visit, according to a new study from Gartner Inc.
"The sober truth is that although consumers are bothered by multiple user IDs and
passwords, most consumers don't see much relative value in having one credential
to navigate the Web," said Avivah Litan, vice president and research director for
Gartner, in a statement.
However, Gartner also said that it
predicts 40 million online U.S. consumers
will use some kind of ID service on three
Web sites per month by the end of
2003.
The study surveyed 2,145 adult
American Web users in August 2001,
with 95 percent of them responding that
they register information with Web sites.
Fifty-four percent of those respondents
said they did so because the site
required it, while 22 percent said they
did it to save time. Another 17 percent
of those respondents said that they
registered for receiving sales pitches
geared toward their individual shopping preferences.
Of the 5 percent that do not register at Web sites, 43 percent of them said they
don't want to receive solicitations, while another 30 percent said they do not want to
share their private financial data with Web sites.
The report suggests a dim short-term outlook for services such as Microsoft's
Passport, which allows Web users to register their financial data and other
preferences just once, allowing them to avoid having to repeatedly register
information at Web sites that support the Passport program.
Gartner said that the Passport system has 25 million enrolled users in the U.S.,
including its existing Hotmail and MSN e-mail users, but added that only 7 million
Passport users know they use it, and less than 1 million of them have used it
outside of a Microsoft Web site.
The company also said that the Liberty Alliance, sponsored by Sun Microsystems
Inc., and including participants such as AOL Time Warner, could be a worthy
alternative to Passport, since AOL users are among the most interested in a unified
ID service, but Liberty standards and software have not been released yet, and AOL
has not yet debuted its Magic Carpet service.
Litan warned that if the Liberty Alliance does not act sooner, Microsoft Passport will
become the default single ID service provider for better or worse.
Several consumer and civil liberties groups such as the Consumer Federation of
America, Consumers Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, have
asked the Federal Trade Commission to examine Passport as part of the new
Microsoft XP operating system, noting that Microsoft is not adequately protecting
consumer data, despite Microsoft's claims to the contrary.
Reported by Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com .
12:26 CST
(20011204/WIRES TOP, ONLINE, BUSINESS/MSPASSPORT/PHOTO)
newsbytes.com
steve |
