REDMOND, WA — The good people at Microsoft don’t just want to protect children. They also want to protect business professionals and their confidential information. That’s why the company wants to create “digital playgrounds” where, instead of a secret society knocks to gain access, only those sporting proper age identity credentials could enter.That’s one of the components of the company’s Trustworthy Computing initiative, which intends to further develop the “End to End Trust” promised during the RSA Security conference.
“I started thinking about how we identify people in the physical world three years ago, when my wife had a (baby) boy,” Scott Charney, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Trustworth Computing explained in an interview with CNET. “I was in the delivery room and out he came, and the doctor said, ‘What’s his name?’ It occurred to me that all identity is based on social customs and derivative identity. Parents name the child and the name is put on the birth certificate. We haven’t done that on the internet.”
In order to right this perceived wrong, Microsoft suggests using identity verification systems already in existence, much like those used in educational and governmental settings. These could then be used to create online digital credentials.
“For example,” Charney illustrated, “I could produce my driver’s license, stick it in a card reader, and prove it’s really me.”
Although children could conceivably use an elder’s identification to slip into areas where they don’t belong, Microsoft proposes that online credentialing could use a national ID or other commonly accepted identity paper base, with children opting into the system with their parent’s permission. Only age and proof of authenticity would be available to ID checkers, and the information would be encrypted and retrievable only via PIN numbers.
The fact that child-focused online areas have been largely ignored by corporate developers hasn’t been missed by Microsoft, which contends that their day, including perhaps a kids.us domain, may still come. According to a recently submitted paper, the use of age authentication might appeal to parents who want to limit the access their minors have to areas and individuals deemed inappropriate for them.
As Microsoft envisions it, the internet’s interactive websites could be categorized as “general audience,” “children only,” and “adults only;” the latter two requiring proof of age for entry.
Even with all its good ideas, Charney doesn’t expect things to change any time soon.
“We’ll get there, but it will take time,” he assured. “People work for years and years, and suddenly, like a snowball rolling down the hill, it takes on critical mass… We’re at that pushing-the-ball stage.”
Some might call it the reinventing the wheel stage, but perhaps Microsoft’s wheel will be different.
