onlineidentity
Latest
Google lawsuit highlights the danger of not managing your online presence
Hey small-business owner, you're pretty savvy. I know you're pretty savvy because you're reading this website on the internet, like the savvy small-business owner above. But some of your colleagues aren't quite as connected as you are. And sometimes that disconnected crowd faces serious real-world implications as a result: Take former restaurant owner Rene Bertagna for instance. His long-standing Virginia restaurant, Serbian Crown, closed last year "after nearly 40 years" due to, he believes, an error in Serbian Crown's Google Maps listing. The error was grievous, he tells Wired, and he's now suing Google in a Virginia court.
Google helps you manage your online identity, justify those vanity Alerts
You know that Google Alert you set up to ping you every time someone mentions your name on the internet? Don't worry, that wasn't self-centered or anything, you were just protecting your online identity. Google today is encouraging the growth of vanity Alerts with its "Me on the Web" feature, a new segment of Google Dashboard dedicated to managing your online identity and finding out what people are saying about you on the global bathroom wall that is the world wide web. The feature makes it easy to set up alerts with your personal information and includes links to tools for identity management and content removal, because the seven billion other people on this planet don't need to know exactly what happened at your office's last Christmas party.
Obama administration moves forward with unique internet ID for Americans, Commerce Department to head system up
President Obama has signaled that he will give the United States Commerce Department the authority over a proposed national cybersecurity measure that would involve giving each American a unique online identity. Other candidates mentioned previously to head up the new system have included the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, but the announcement that the Commerce Department will take the job should please groups that have raised concerns over security agencies doing double duty in police and intelligence work. So anyway, what about this unique ID we'll all be getting? Well, though details are still pretty scant, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, speaking at an event at the Stanford Institute, stressed that the new system would not be akin to a national ID card, or a government controlled system, but that it would enhance security and reduce the need for people to memorize dozens of passwords online. Sorry, Locke, sounds like a national ID system to us. Anyway, the Obama administration is currently drafting what it's dubbed the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which is expected at the Department of Commerce in a few months. We'll keep you posted if anything terrifying or cool happens. Update: For clarity's sake, we should note that the proposed unique ID system will be opt in only, not a mandatory program for all citizens.
UK Government: Free iPods for all!
Well, not really. Government officials in the UK are getting serious about combating online fraud and identity issues. There is a proposal for an ID card system, which would store a person's online identity. The cost of the cards would be high, and Patrick Cooper, head of applications and data services at the UK Department of Trade and Industry, has proposed replacing the ID cards with iPod nanos, according to an article on ZD Net UK. From the article:"If you had...an iPod with a digital certificate [it] would also work...My boss would give everyone in the UK an iPod...that would also mean there would be no reason for anyone to steal one because everyone would have one." Sounds like a plan to me!
