The United States Federal Government and a number of entities in the private sector have drafted the "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace". Their goal is to secure cyberspace. This effort is a direct response to the increasing amount of identity theft and online fraud going on each year. Last year there were over 10 million occurrences of identity theft. Ouch.This proposal recommends creation of an Identity Ecosystem. There should be an authority to authenticate digital identification. Participation is supposed to be mandatory. The new system will be built with interoperability in mind. That means everything works with everything else like ATM systems do with cash. The proposal is for this not to be all done by the government.
People do not seem to have control over their personal info any more. And there are other problem plaguing people which will not be solved by this initiative such as malware. However the president is to designate a government agency to lead this effort. The proposal goes out of its way to clarify that they are not talking about a national ID card. This is a digital problem requiring a digital solution.
