OpenID Foundation and ICF Publish Joint White Paper on Open Trust Frameworks for Open Government

Washington D.C. - At the Open Government Identity Management Solutions Privacy Workshop held today in Washington D.C., Don Thibeau, Executive Director of the OpenID Foundation, and Drummond Reed, Executive Director of the Information Card Foundation, announced a joint white paper from both foundations. Entitled Open Trust Frameworks for Open Government, the paper explains the approach both foundations are taking to enable open, Internet-scale trust networks using OpenID and Information Cards.

"Open trust frameworks are the way to bridge open identity technologies like OpenID and Information Cards with the trust requirements of large communities such as the U.S. federal government," said Mr. Reed. "They are a practical solution to enabling government agency websites and applications to accept identities from non-governmental identity providers. This reduces friction and lowers costs while at the same time increasing security and privacy."

The focus of the workshop was the privacy implications of introducing open identity technologies to federal websites. Besides Mr. Reed, speakers on this topic included:

• Judith Spencer, GSA, Co-Chair of the Federal CIO Council’s Federal Identity, Credentialing, and Access Management (ICAM) Subcommittee
• Bob Morgan, InCommon
• Don Thibeau, Executive Director, OpenID Foundation
• Brett McDowell, Executive Director, Kantara Initiative
• Mary Ruddy, Chair, Identity Commons Stewards Council and ICF Certification Committee

The paper explains the process both foundations are currently undergoing to prepare open trust frameworks for certification under the U.S. General Services Administration’s Trust Framework Adoption Process (TFAP). More details about this adoption process and how privacy considerations are being addressed are available on the government’s IDManagement.gov website.