--- begin forwarded text Status: U From: Somebody To: "'R. A. Hettinga'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Industry Leaders to Form Network Identity Alliance-Liberty Alliance Project Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 12:29:49 -0500 Industry Leaders to Form Network Identity Alliance-Liberty Alliance Project Representing Over a Billion Names, ActivCard, American Airlines, the Apache Software Foundation, Bank of America, Bell Canada Enterprises, Cingular Wireless, Cisco Systems, CollabNet, Dun and Bradstreet, eBay, Entrust, Fidelity Investments, Gemplus, GM, Global Crossing, i2, Intuit, Liberate Technologies, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, O'Reilly and Associates, Openwave, RealNetworks, RSA Security, Sabre, Schlumberger, Sony Corporation, Sprint, Sun Microsystems, Travelocity, United Airlines, Verisign, Vodafone and More Create Multi-Industry Business Alliance ProjectLiberty.org Goes Live; All Interested Parties Invited to Drive Specification and Development Process PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- ProjectLiberty.org, In an unprecedented collaboration between some of the world's largest businesses and industries, representing over a billion customers, employees and business partners, 33 major companies announced today the formation of an alliance, code named Liberty Alliance Project (www.projectliberty.org). The alliance will develop and deploy an open solution for network identity. The charter members of the Liberty Alliance Project, representing a broad, global spectrum of industries, intend to create an open, federated solution for network identity -- enabling ubiquitous single sign-on, decentralized authentication and open authorization from any device connected to the internet, from traditional desktop computers and cellular phones through to TVs, automobiles, credit cards and point-of-sale terminals. The alliance represents some of the world's most recognized brand names and service providers, driving products, services and partnerships across a wide range of consumer and industrial products, financial services, travel, digital media, retailing, telecommunications and technology. Any organization interested in supporting the Liberty Alliance Project can visit www.projectliberty.org for details. The Liberty Alliance Project plans to begin immediately in setting out a roadmap to address business practices, privacy, consumer adoption and technology evolution. "It's recently become clear that the software for managing user identity and authentication is one of the key building blocks of the emerging internet operating system," comments Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of technology publisher O'Reilly & Associates and an activist for open source software and internet standards. "It's so fundamental that a widespread consensus has emerged that this is a technology that shouldn't be owned or controlled by any one player. Instead, we need an open, distributed system with implementations available from multiple technology providers and identities issued by many parties operating in a web of trust. Project Liberty is an important step in that direction. I'm hopeful that it will provide a forum for interoperability between the proposed identity schemes available from individual software or service vendors." "Security and identity are facets of almost every big issue in the digital world today," said Esther Dyson, chairman of EDventure Holdings, and former chairman of ICANN, an organization that sets policy for the Internet's infrastructure, including the Domain Name System. "They touch it all: privacy, anonymity, integrity of data and safety of assets, freedom of speech, legitimacy, trust and trust worthiness, branding, visibility of marketers and visibility to marketers. Therefore, it's important for individuals to have a convenient way to identify themselves (and their counterparts)." The Liberty Alliance Project has three main objectives: -- 1. To allow individual consumers and businesses to maintain personal information securely. This enables a decentralized approach to garnering personal or proprietary information, and promote interoperability or service delivery across networks. -- 2. To provide a universal, open standard for "single sign-on," which users and service providers can rely upon, and leverage to interoperate. Internet single sign-on will allow users to log in once, and be authenticated for a spectrum of network services supporting the Liberty standard, between and among web sites, as well as network services even if those services are provided by different businesses. -- 3. To provide an open standard for network identity spanning all internet-connected devices. This allows providers of network services, and the infrastructure that enables them, to adopt a neutral, open standard, available wherever the internet is available, to enable secure and reliable identity authentication across handsets, automobiles, credit cards -- literally any device attached to the internet. About the Liberty Alliance Project The Liberty Alliance Project (www.projectliberty.org) is an organization being formed to create an open, federated, single sign-on identity solution for the digital economy via any device connected to the internet. Membership is open to all commercial and non-commercial organizations. NOTE: Liberty is a code name for this formative initiative. The charter members expect to finalize an alliance agreement regarding organization and joint development of intellectual property within the next 60 days. Company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Liberty Charter Member Quote Sheet Apache Software Foundation "Freedom of information on the World Wide Web depends on the freedom of individuals to choose the means and mechanisms through which they supply or access that information," said Roy T. Fielding, chairman of the Apache Software Foundation and co-author of the Internet standards for URI and HTTP. "The Apache Software Foundation's goal is to ensure that the critical infrastructure of the World Wide Web remains open and available to any software developer. We are pleased to help form the Liberty Alliance, since open access to the methods and protocols for user authentication will be essential for future large-scale e-commerce and subscription-based Internet services," said Roy T. Fielding, Chairman, The Apache Software Foundation. PR Contact: Roy Fielding at 949-609-4747 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bell Canada Enterprises "Our goal is to ensure that customers have absolute confidence in the security and privacy of their personal information which flows across communications networks," said Michael Sabia, president of Bell Canada Enterprises Inc (BCE). "As a member of the alliance, BCE will participate in an international effort to establish a global standard for accessing communications systems through a single sign-on solution. We see it as a key enabler of BCE's convergence strategy that will allow customers to easily access any type of information, in any format, from any device." PR Contact: Don Doucette at 514-786-3924 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] CollabNet "For distributed authentication to work, a truly distributed architecture is needed, and that's not possible without community-developed standards and software," said Brian Behlendorf, CTO and co-founder of CollabNet, and president of the Apache Software Foundation. "We're very happy to see this particular group of companies and organizations recognize the need for a genuinely open solution, and look forward to participating in the Liberty Alliance Project." PR Contact: Jacki DeCoster at 650-228-2537 or 800-408-5915 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dun & Bradstreet "Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) is participating in the Liberty Alliance Project because we believe information standards such as the D&B D-U-N-S Number will enable the growth of eCommerce and feed the adoption of Web services. In order to make eCommerce work, there is a need to adopt common practices and open standards for network identity. D&B is a key enabler of eCommerce, and we look forward to contributing and helping to build the universal information standards and protocols which will facilitate safe and trusted eCommerce," says Larry Kutscher, president, D&B B2B eCommerce. PR Contact: Tara Lynch at 908-665-5639 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Entrust, Inc. "Our participation in the Liberty Alliance is important to help strengthen enhanced Internet security for government, commerce and industry as more and more high-valued transactions are being conducted over the Internet," said Mark Davis, chief marketing officer, Entrust, Inc., a leading global provider of enhanced Internet security services and solutions. "Maintaining privacy and security over these transactions is critical for our customers, which include government agencies, financial institutions, healthcare organizations and many, many others." PR Contact: Carrie Bendzsa at 613-270-3455 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Gemplus "Gemplus is delighted to be affiliated with the world class organizations that constitute the Liberty Alliance," stated Dr. Mel Slater, senior vice president of Gemplus. "With years of experience in delivering smart card-based authentication and identity solutions to the global marketplace and production capacity of over half a billion smart cards per year, Gemplus is poised to deliver a unique perspective to the Liberty Alliance. Smart cards, already in use by millions of people around the world, enable users to securely identify and authenticate themselves on the Internet through many devices, including home PCs, cell phones and point-of-sale terminals. The interactive environment that is being addressed by the Liberty Alliance represents a momentous step for the industry, empowering smart card users to enjoy greater liberties than ever before." PR Contact: Kerry Butler at 215-390-2840 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Global Crossing "Joining this historic alliance gives us the opportunity to participate in the redefinition of how online identities will be established, managed and optimized in the future," said David Walsh, President, Global Crossing. "Particularly as Global Crossing continues to build out not just network services but enable entire communities of interest, the development of common protocols for managing the people and information within those communities is extremely powerful. Beyond industry extranets, we also see tremendous opportunities to inter-connect industries, which is only possible when common standards like IP and now network identity solutions like this are made available." PR Contact: Karen Hilyard at 212-620-7100 General Motors "The objectives of the Liberty Alliance Project are in line with General Motors' pursuit to leverage the most effective technology solutions offered for the digital economy," states Ralph Szygenda, GM Group Vice President, Chief Information Officer. "Secure information management and interoperability across the Internet landscape are vital issues to GM as we use digital technologies to expand our strategic options and reinvent relationships with our customers, employees, and business partners. It's a progressive, innovative alliance that makes sense for GM." PR Contact: Eric Apodaca at 313-667-4861 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Liberate Technologies "As Internet enabled transactions and commerce are a core component of Liberate's software for interactive television, security and simplicity for consumers are of paramount importance to Liberate," said David Limp, Chief Strategy Officer, Liberate Technologies. "We are happy be a charter member of the Liberty Alliance Project, and applaud this broad organization's leadership in driving a safe, standardized and streamlined means for consumers and businesses to make their own choices concerning network identity." PR Contact: Tom Neumayr at 650-701-4065 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Nokia "The way in which people communicate with each other is rapidly changing. The various elements of our lives are coming together through mobile communications. Personalization, location specific services and time sensitivity are becoming increasingly important as individuals are building their own mobile worlds. In this world the mobile phone has evolved into a centerpiece of personal life management, enabling complete personal connectivity between people, services, devices, applications, organizations and locations. Therefore, it is crucial to deliver open industry specifications for all relevant technologies, including management of online identities," says Pekka Ala-Pietila, President, Nokia. "We can enable a new generation of secure and flexible mobile Internet services through initiatives such as the 'Liberty Alliance.'" PR Contact: Jyrki Rosenberg at +358-9-5116-2865 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] NTT DoCoMo "The number I-mode subscribers has already passed 27 million. We are now becoming one of the biggest ISPs in the world," says Takeshi Natsuno, Managing Director of NTT DoCoMo. "I think that we can generate new value to our customers by combining the strategies in the Liberty alliance and our platform." O'Reilly & Associates "It's recently become clear that the software for managing user identity and authentication is one of the key building blocks of the emerging internet operating system. It's so fundamental that a widespread consensus has emerged that this is a technology that shouldn't be owned or controlled by any one player. Instead, we need an open, distributed system with implementations available from multiple technology providers and identities issued by many parties operating in a web of trust. Project Liberty is an important step in that direction. I'm hopeful that it will provide a forum for interoperability between the proposed identity schemes available from individual software or service vendors." PR Contact: Lisa Mann at 707-829-0515, ext. 230 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] RSA Security "We are committed to the ideals of the Liberty Alliance, and looking forward to working with our new partners to create the standards, processes and products required for an open, federated solution for online identity," said Art Coviello, CEO and president of RSA Security. "As a leader in e-security, we believe we can offer the Liberty Alliance valuable expertise in the areas of user authentication, access rights management, data privacy and transaction integrity." PR Contact: Timothy Powers at 781-301-5344 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Interoperability requires cooperation and collaboration, something Sun understands and endorses in the evolution of its systems and software platform," said Scott McNealy, Chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Identity is a common thread throughout all network services -- the Liberty Alliance Project will leverage and cooperate with existing open, and interoperable standards that will unleash an internet that roams with you and your customers, wherever they and your business partners take you. We stand proudly alongside such formidable industry partners in the pursuit of that objective." PR Contact: May H. Goh at 408-517-5520 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Vodafone "Vodafone is a supporter of open standards because they drive customer choice and competition. We look forward to working with the Liberty Alliance members to develop an open approach to network identity," said Alan Harper, Vodafone Group Strategy Director. PR Contact: Jon Earl at +44-0-1635-674401 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X21826053 SOURCE Sun Microsystems, Inc. CO: ArTile Microsystems, Inc. --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]