Technology Community Forms Information Card Foundation to Simplify Secure On-Line Digital Identity

NEEDHAM, MA, Jun 24 (MARKET WIRE) --
An array of prominent names in the high-technology community today
announced the formation of a non-profit foundation, The Information Card
Foundation, to advance a simpler, more secure and more open digital
identity on the Internet, increasing user control over their personal
information while enabling mutually beneficial digital relationships
between people and businesses.

Led by Equifax, Google, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and PayPal, plus nine
leaders in the technology community, the group established the Information
Card Foundation (ICF) to promote the rapid build-out and adoption of
Internet-enabled digital identities using Information Cards.

Information Cards take a familiar off-line consumer behavior -- using a
card to prove identity and provide information -- and bring it to the
online world. Information Cards are a visual representation of a personal
digital identity which can be shared with online entities. Consumers are
able to manage the information in their cards, have multiple cards with
different levels of detail, and easily select the card they want to use
for any given interaction.

"Rather than logging into web sites with usernames and passwords,
Information Cards let people 'click-in' using a secure digital identity
that carries only the specific information needed to enable a
transaction," said Charles Andres, executive director for the Information
Card Foundation. "Additionally, businesses will enjoy lower fraud rates,
higher affinity with customers, lower risk, and more timely information
about their customers and business partners."

The founding members of the Information Card Foundation represent a wide
range of technology, data, and consumer companies. Equifax, Google,
Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and PayPal, are founding members of the
Information Card Foundation Board of Directors. Individuals also serving
on the board include ICF Chairman Paul Trevithick of Parity, Patrick
Harding of Ping Identity, Mary Ruddy of Meristic, Ben Laurie, Andrew
Hodgkinson of Novell, Drummond Reed, Pamela Dingle of the Pamela Project,
Axel Nennker, and Kim Cameron of Microsoft.

"The creation of the ICF is a welcome development," said Jamie Lewis, CEO
and research chair of Burton Group. "As a third party, the ICF can drive
the development of Information Card specifications that are independent of
vendor implementations. It can also drive vendor-independent branding that
advertises compliance with the specifications, and the behind-the-scenes
work that real interoperability requires."

The Information Card Foundation will support and guide industry efforts to
enable the development of an open, trusted and interoperable identity
layer for the Internet that maximizes control over personal information by
individuals. To do so, the Information Card infrastructure will use
existing and emerging data exchange and security protocols, standards and
software components.

Businesses and organizations that supply or consume personal information
will benefit from joining the Information Card Foundation to improve their
trusted relationships with their users. This includes financial
institutions, retailers, educational and government institutions,
healthcare providers, retail providers, travel, entertainment, and social
networks.

The Information Card Foundation will hold interoperability events to
improve consistency on the web for people using and managing their
Information Cards. The ICF will also promote consistent industry branding
that represents interoperability of Information Cards and related
components, and will promote identity policies that protect user
information. This branding and policy development is designed to give all
Internet users confidence that they can exert greater control over
personal information released to specific trusted providers through the
use of Information Cards.

"Liberty Alliance salutes the open industry oversight of Information Card
interoperability that the formation of ICF signifies," said Brett
McDowell, executive director, Liberty Alliance. "Our shared goal is to
deliver a ubiquitous, interoperable, privacy-respecting federated
identity layer as a means to seamless, secure online transactions over
network infrastructure. We look forward to exploring with ICF the
expansion of the Liberty Alliance Interoperable(TM) testing program to
include Information Card interoperability as well as utilization of the
Identity Assurance Framework across Information Card deployments."

As part of its affiliations with other organizations, The Information Card
Foundation has applied to be a working group of Identity Commons, a
community-driven organization promoting the creation of an open identity
layer for the Internet while encouraging the development of healthy,
interoperable communities.

Additional founding members are Aristotle, Arcot Systems, A.T.E. Software,
BackgroundChecks.com, CORISECIO, FuGen Solutions, the Fraunhofer
Institute, Fun Communications, Gemalto, IDology, IPcommerce, ooTao,
Parity, Ping Identity, Privo, Wave Systems, and WSO2.

Further information about the Information Card Foundation can be found at
www.informationcard.net. (NOTE: site goes live on Tuesday, June 24.)

Media Contact:
John Fitzsimmons
781-223-5833
Email Contact

Copyright 2008, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

-0-