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Technology Stocks : Identix (IDNX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve who wrote (21678)	12/6/2001 3:25:46 AM
From: steve	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26039

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