{"id":1094,"date":"2010-03-02T13:02:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-02T21:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2010-03-02T13:12:59","modified_gmt":"2010-03-02T21:12:59","slug":"u-prove-minimal-disclosure-availability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.identityblog.com\/?p=1094","title":{"rendered":"U-Prove Minimal Disclosure availability"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog is about technology issues, problems, plans for the future, speculative possibilities, long\u00a0term ideas\u00a0– all things that should make any self-respecting product marketer with concrete goals and metrics run for the hills!\u00a0 But today, just for once, I'm going to pick up an actual Microsoft press release <\/a>and lay it on you.\u00a0 The reason?\u00a0 Microsoft has just done something very special, and the fact that the announcement was a key part of the RSA Conference <\/a>Keynote is itself important:<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 March 2, 2010 \u2014 Today at RSA Conference 2010, Microsoft Corp. outlined how the company continues to make progress toward its End to End Trust vision. In his keynote address, Scott Charney, corporate vice president of Microsoft\u2019s Trustworthy Computing Group, explained how the company\u2019s vision for End to End Trust applies to cloud computing, detailed progress toward a claims-based identity metasystem, and called for public and private organizations alike to prevent and disrupt cybercrime.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnd to End Trust is our vision for realizing a safer, more trusted Internet,\u201d said Charney. \u201cTo enable trust inside, and outside, of cloud computing environments will require security and privacy fundamentals, technology innovations, and social, economic, political and IT alignment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further, Charney explained that identity solutions that provide more secure and private access to both on-site and cloud applications are key to enabling a safer, more trusted enterprise and Internet. As part of that effort, Microsoft today released a community technology preview of the U-Prove technology, which enables online providers to better protect privacy and enhance security through the minimal disclosure of information in online transactions. To encourage broad community evaluation and input, Microsoft announced it is providing core portions of the U-Prove intellectual property under the Open Specification Promise, as well as releasing open source software development kits in C# and Java editions. Charney encouraged the industry, developers and IT professionals to develop identity solutions that help protect individual privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company also shared details about a new partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems in Berlin on an interoperability prototype project integrating U-Prove and the Microsoft identity platform with the German government\u2019s future use of electronic identity cards.<\/p>\n

As further evidence of how the company is enabling a safer, more trusted enterprise, Microsoft also today released Forefront Identity Manager 2010, a part of its Business Ready Security strategy. Forefront Identity Manager enables policy-based identity management across diverse environments, empowers business customers with self-service capabilities, and provides IT professionals with rich administrative tools.<\/p>\n

In addition, Charney reviewed company efforts to creatively disrupt and prevent cybercrime. Citing Microsoft\u2019s recently announced Operation b49, a Microsoft-led initiative to neutralize the well-known Waledac botnet, Charney stated that while focusing on security and privacy fundamentals and threat mitigation remains necessary, the industry needs to be more aggressive in blunting the impact of cybercriminals. Operation b49 is an example of how the private sector can get more creative in its collective approach to fighting criminals online.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to collaborating with industry and governments worldwide to realize a safer, more trusted Internet through the creative disruption and prevention of cybercrime,\u201d Charney said.<\/p>\n

Readers may remember the promise I made<\/a> when Microsoft's purchase of U-Prove and Credentica<\/a> was announced in March 2008<\/a>\u00a0and some worried Microsoft might turn minimal disclosure into something proprietary:<\/p>\n

[It isn't…] trivial to figure out the best legal mecahnisms for making the intellectual property and even the code available to the ecosystem.\u00a0 Lawyers are needed, and it takes a while.\u00a0 But I can guarantee everyone that I have zero intention of hoarding<\/strong> Minimal Disclosure Tokens or turning U-Prove into a proprietary Microsoft technology silo.<\/p>\n

So here are the specifics of today's annoucement:<\/p>\n