Technology Leaders Favor Online ID Card Over Passwords

Microsoft, Google and PayPal are among the founders of an industry organization that hopes to solve the problem of password overload among computer users. The Information Card Foundation is an effort to create a single industrywide approach to managing identity online that promises to reduce drastically the use of passwords and create a system that is less vulnerable to fraud. The idea is to bring the concept of an identity card, like a driver’s license, to the online world. Rather than logging on to sites with user IDs and passwords, people will gain access to sites using a secure digital identity that is overseen by a third party. The user controls the information in a secure place and transmits only the data that is necessary to access a Web site. In addition to simplifying online shopping, such information cards will reduce the number of phishing incidents — that is, the fraudulent use of someone’s identity to gain access to financial records.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/technology/24card.html?ref=todayspaper
(requires registration)