- Value [1] Privacy and Noncoercion
- Identity Solutions will be Privacy-Enhancing and Voluntary -- The offline world has structural barriers that preserve individual
privacy by limiting information collection, use, and disclosure to a specific context For example, consider a driver’s license:
an individual can use a driver’s license to open a bank account, board an airplane, or view an age-restricted movie at the
cinema, but the Department of Motor Vehicles does not know every place that accepts driver’s licenses as identification It
is also difficult for the bank, the airport, and the movie theater to collaborate and link the transactions together At the
same time, there are aspects of these offline transactions that are not privacy-protective The movie theater attendant who
checks an individual’s driver’s license needs to know only that the individual is over age 17 But looking at the driver’s
license reveals extraneous information, such as the individual’s address and full date of birth. Ideally, identity solutions
should preserve the positive privacy benefits of offline transactions while mitigating some of the negative privacy aspects
The Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs) are the widely accepted framework for evaluating and mitigating privacy impacts
The eight FIPPs are transparency, individual participation, purpose specification, data minimization, use limitation, data
quality and integrity, security, and accountability and auditing. The envisioned Identity Ecosystem will be grounded in a
holistic implementation of the FIPPs in order to provide multi-faceted privacy protections For example, organizations will
collect and distribute only the information necessary to the transaction, maintain appropriate safeguards on that information,
and be responsive and accountable to individuals’ privacy expectations In circumstances where individuals make choices regarding
the use of their data (such as to restrict particular uses), those choices will be automatically applied to all parties with
whom that individual interacts Consistent with the FIPPs-based approach, the Identity Ecosystem will include limits on the
length of time organizations can retain personal information and will require them to provide individuals with appropriate
opportunities to access, correct, and delete it The Identity Ecosystem will also require organizations to maintain auditable
records regarding the use and protection of personal information Moreover, a FIPPs-based approach will promote the creation
and adoption of privacy-enhancing technical standards Such standards will minimize the transmission of unnecessary information
and eliminate the superfluous “leakage” of information that can be invisibly collected by third parties Such standards will
also minimize the ability to link credential use among multiple service providers, thereby preventing them from developing
a complete picture of an individual’s activities online Finally, service providers will request individuals’ credentials only
when necessary for the transaction and then only as appropriate to the risk associated with the transaction As a result, implementation
of the FIPPs will protect individuals’ capacity to engage anonymously in cyberspace Universal adoption of the FIPPs in the
envisioned Identity Ecosystem will enable a variety of transactions, including anonymous, anonymous with validated attributes,
pseudonymous, and uniquely identified -- while providing robust privacy protections that promote usability and trust Finally,
participation in the Identity Ecosystem will be voluntary: the government will neither mandate that individuals obtain an
Identity Ecosystem credential nor that companies require Identity Ecosystem credentials from consumers as the only means to
interact with them Individuals shall be free to use an Identity Ecosystem credential of their choice, provided the credential
meets the minimum risk requirements of the relying party, or to use any non-Identity Ecosystem mechanism provided by the relying
party Individuals’ participation in the Identity Ecosystem will be a day-to-day -- or even a transaction-to-transaction --
choice.
- Value [2] Security and Resiliency
- Identity Solutions will be Secure and Resilient -- Identity solutions and the processes and techniques used to establish trust
must be secure against attack or misuse Security ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of identity solutions
and, when appropriate, the non-repudiation of transactions The use of open and collaboratively developed security standards
and the presence of auditable security processes are critical to an identity solution’s trustworthiness Identity solutions
must have security built into them so that whenever possible, the security is transparent to the user Identity solutions will
provide secure and reliable methods of electronic authentication Authentication credentials are secure when they are (a) issued
based on sound criteria for verifying the identity of individuals and devices; (b) resistant to theft, tampering, counterfeiting,
and exploitation; and (c) issued only by providers who fulfill the necessary requirements In addition, the ability to support
robust forensic capabilities will maximize recovery efforts, enable enhancements to protect against evolving threats, and
permit attribution, when appropriate, to ensure that criminals can be held accountable for their activities Reliable identity
solutions will also be available and resilient Identity solutions are available when they meet appropriate service-level requirements
agreed upon by the individuals and organizations that use them Credentials are resilient when they can recover from loss,
compromise, theft—and can be effectively revoked or suspended in instances of misuse Another contributor to resilience is
the existence of a diverse and heterogeneous environment of providers and methods of authentication In a diverse ecosystem,
a participant can easily switch providers if their existing provider becomes insolvent, incapable of adhering to policies,
or revises their terms of service Identity solutions must detect when trust has been broken, be capable of timely restoration
after any disruption, be able to quickly revoke and recover compromised digital identities, and be capable of adapting to
the dynamic nature of technology.
- Value [3] Interoperability
- Identity Solutions will be Interoperable -- Interoperability encourages service providers to accept a variety of credential
and identity media, similar to the way ATMs accept credit and debit cards from different banks Interoperability also supports
identity portability: it enables individuals to use a variety of credentials in asserting their digital identity to a service
provider Finally, the interoperability of identity solutions envisioned in this Strategy will enable individuals to easily
switch providers, thus harnessing market incentives to meet individuals’ expectations This guiding principle recognizes two
interoperability ideals within the Identity Ecosystem: * There will be standardized, reliable credentials and identity media
in widespread use in both the public and private sectors; and * If an individual, device, or system presents a valid and appropriate
credential, any qualified relying party is capable of accepting and verifying the credential as proof of identity and attributes
To achieve these ideals, identity solutions should be scalable across multiple communities, spanning traditional geographic
borders Interoperable identity solutions will allow organizations to accept and trust external users authenticated by a third
party Identity solutions achieve scalability when all participants in the various identity federations agree upon a common
set of standards, requirements, and accountability mechanisms for securely exchanging digital identity information, resulting
in authentication across identity federations Identity solutions will achieve at least two types of interoperability: technical
and policy-level Technical interoperability (including semantic interoperability) refers to the ability for different technologies
to communicate and exchange data based upon well-defined and testable interface standards Policy- level interoperability is
the ability for organizations to adopt common business policies and processes (e g , liability, identity proofing, and vetting)
related to the transmission, receipt, and acceptance of data between systems There are many existing standards and standards
organizations that address these issues, and the Identity Ecosystem will encourage the use of existing, non-proprietary solutions
When new standards are needed, the Identity Ecosystem will emphasize non-proprietary, international, and industry-led standards
In addition, identity solutions will be modular, allowing service providers to build sophisticated identity systems using
smaller and simpler sub-systems This implementation philosophy will improve the flexibility, reliability, and reuse of these
systems, and it will allow for simplicity and efficiency in change management: service providers can add and remove components
as the Identity Ecosystem evolves.
- Value [4] Cost-Effectiveness and Ease of Use
- Identity Solutions will be Cost-Effective and Easy To Use -- From the individual’s perspective, the increasing complexity
and risk of managing multiple credentials threaten the convenience associated with online transactions The Identity Ecosystem
will promote identity solutions that foster the reduction and elimination of policy and technology silos that require individuals
to maintain multiple identity credentials Individuals will be able to establish a small number of identity credentials that
they can leverage across a wide variety of service providers Organizations will no longer have to issue and maintain credentials
for each of their users Individuals, businesses, organizations, and all levels of government will benefit from the reduced
cost of online transactions: fewer redundant account procedures, a reduction in fraud, decreased help-desk costs, and a transition
away from expensive paper-based processes Furthermore, reusable identity solutions promote operational efficiency and will
further reduce the cost of implementing online services The use of existing identity solutions that align with the Strategy
is one way of quickly achieving these efficiencies Identity solutions should be simple to understand, intuitive, easy-to-use,
and enabled by technology that requires minimal user training Many existing technology components in widespread use today,
such as cell phones, smart cards, and personal computers, can be leveraged to act as or contain a credential Whenever possible,
identity solutions should be built into online services to enhance their usability Identity solutions must also bridge the
‘digital divide’; they must be available to all individuals, and they must be accessible to the disadvantaged and disabled.
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