German ID card to allow pseudonyms

German ID card to allow pseudonyms
27 Feb 2008
The German Home Office has confirmed that a new electronic identity card for German citizens will incorporate the use of pseudonyms for secure web access.
According to the plans of the German Home Office, a credit card sized electronic identity card will be introduced in 2009. It will replace the larger, non-electronic identity cards currently in use. “Apart from the usual personal information, the electronic identity card will contain biometric information, in particular digital fingerprints of both index fingers, and additional information for facial recognition”, says secretary of state August Hanning.
Hanning confirmed that the new identity card will contain a pseudonym function. In a leaked letter to Gisela Piltz, a Member of German Parliament for the Liberal Democrats (FDP), Hanning stated that the card could be used as a “passport for the internet” in the future. “The new identity card offers the possibility of an electronic identity proof for E-Government- and E-Business-applications”, writes Hanning.
The central idea is that the individual card number is used to generate a pseudonym that cannot be reconverted mathematically into the original card number. This pseudonym could then be used to register at, for example, eBay, or any other web service that requires personal identification.
Using the pseudonym, the operator of a web service is guaranteed that the user is a ‘real’ person. The user, on the other hand, does not have to reveal their real name. Since the algorithms generate different pseudonyms for each web service, there is also no possibility whatsoever of tracking a person through the web.
Privacy advocates have long argued in favour of such a function on the new electronic identity cards and it seems now that they have won the case. But this development is not just of interest from a data privacy viewpoint; it could also have implications for health based smartcards.
A pseudonym function on a mandatory electronic identity card has the potential to dramatically increase the interest of citizens to buy smartcard readers for their home PCs. These smartcard readers could also be used for healthcare smartcards. This, in turn, would probably increase the willingness of industry to offer smartcard based e-health solutions, for example smartcard-based personal health records.
Convincing citizens (and doctors) to use smartcard readers to access personal medical data is one of the critical points of the German smartcard project. Although there is a law ruling that access to shared personal medical data should only be granted if both doctors and citizens use smartcards, the reality looks different. More and more regional electronic medical record-projects are coming up, and practically none use smartcards.
© 2008 E-HEALTH-MEDIA LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Two figures from Geneva’s hospitality industry have launched a committee to explore hosting the games in 11 years.

Tribune de Genève

Group aims for 2018 Winter Olympics
10:52 Two figures from Geneva’s hospitality industry have launched a committee to explore hosting the games in 11 years.




Organizers are today unveiling a bid by Geneva to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Hotelier Marco Torriani, manager of the Hôtel du Rhône and Jean-Pierre Jobin, president of Genève Tourisme, have launched an exploratory committee with SFr200,000 in funding from Sport-Toto, the Basel-based sports betting company. “Seventy years after the Olympic Games of St. Moritz, it would be marvelous to organize them again in Switzerland,” said Torriani, a native of Davos and son of the well-known Swiss hockey player Bibi Torriani.

“The Olympic Games are an incredible calling card, above all for a country that lives a lot around its mountain resorts.” The pair has already contacted ski operators in Vaud and Valais about the possible venture. Switzerland last tried for the Winter Olympics held in 2006, which it hoped to host in Sion (Valais), but the event was awarded to Turin, Italy. The possibility of launching a bid in conjunction with a ski hill in neighboring France appears to be out of the question, given the reluctance of Olympic authorities to award games to more than one country at a time.

Torriani and Jobin hope to stir interest in their project with press conferences today in Geneva and Zurich. The Tribune de Genève today devotes two pages to the proposal. The newspaper mentions Crans-Montana as a possible venue for skiing and suggests the 30,000-seat Geneva stadium could be used for opening ceremonies. But at least one new facility would have to be built – the Vernets rink is not considered adequate for Olympic ice hockey matches.

Carlos Moreira support to the International Organization for Migrations

To raise global awareness and access to digital identity for the Poor



Photo: Business Advisory Board IOM - Members are Tadashi Okamura, Chairman, Toshiba Group; Shafik Gabr, Chairman & CEO, ARTOC Group for Investment and Development; John Conroy, Chairman, Baker & McKenzie; Dr. Dae Whan Chang, Chairman, The Maeil Group; Ms. Carla Cico, Former CEO, Brasil Telecom; Mr. Kais Daly, Chairman and General Manager, Groupe Chimique Tunisien; Dr. J.P. Huang, Chairman, JPI Group; Mr. Paul Laudicina, Managing Director, A.T. Kearney; Mr. Carlos Moreira, Chairman, WISeKey SA; Mr. Ikram ul-Majeed Sehgal, Managing Director, Pathfinder Group; Dr. Jannie Tay, CEO, The Hour Glass, Dr. Naresh Trehan, Executive Director, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre; Claude Bebear, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, AXA; and Ricardo B. Salinas, Chairman, Grupo Salinas

WISeKey Launch Global e-Security Infrastructure for Digital TV which will Protect Billions of Digital TV Devices Worldwide

DVB Services and WISeKey Launch Global e-Security Infrastructure for Digital TV which will Protect Billions of Digital TV Devices Worldwide

WISeKey SA, a global leader in identity management services, announced that it is now providing to digital TV broadcasters and to manufacturers of DVB Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) consumer devices a security infrastructure that it has built and operates on behalf of DVB Services Sarl. The infrastructure enables the Digital Video Broadcasting community worldwide – broadcasters, digital television device manufacturers, and interactive TV application developers – to benefit from an unrivalled level of trust and reliability on global digital television networks.

The DVB MHP security system has been devised to avoid the typical information security risks that plague cyberspace today:

* "Denial of Service" through competing applications, malicious attacks or other means
* Unauthorized use of user data
* Unauthorized use or theft of content
* Compromise of the integrity of content in the content delivery chain
* Unauthorized use of the return channel
* Unauthorized access to the communication on the return channel
* Malicious damage of the MHP device by an application

Access to the infrastructure will enable broadcasters and manufacturers to benefit from essential security components enshrined in the DVB MHP specifications adopted by ETSI.

Using WISeKey’s hightrusted managed services from its high security data centers in Switzerland, WISeKey, as operator of the infrastructure under a contract with DVB Services, will issue digital certificates for broadcasters and digital television application developers. The infrastructure will also allow manufacturers of digital television devices – for example set top boxes or digital televisions compliant with the DVB MHP standard – to enable their devices to access the infrastructure.

The MHP standard requires all DVB MHP television set and set top box manufacturers to install a root certificate in each device and all DVB MHP broadcasters to have their own identity certificate. When a broadcaster transmits an MHP application, the device authenticates it as coming from a recognised source, with permissions to execute on the original network to which it is attached.

Adopted by the DVB Project, the DVB MHP standard is the leading open standard for interactive digital television. The trusted services supplied by WISeKey will guarantee the integrity of digital television applications running MHP. The service will constitute a mechanism by which programming and applications flowing through the DVB Services infrastructure are authenticated and authorized.


WISeKey and DVB Services are ready to receive applications for DVB MHP digital certificates and root certificate embedding in devices. Please visit the DVB Services Web site for details on enrolment at http://www.dvbservices.org

El Partido Popular celebra el foro 'Diálogo Digital Popular'

El Partido Popular celebra el foro 'Diálogo Digital Popular'

Este pasado día 19 de enero el Partido Popular (PP) inauguró en Madrid el foro 'Diálogo Digital Popular'. En línea con los diferentes encuentros que a lo largo de los últimos meses ha mantenido el candidato a la presidencia del gobierno, Mariano Rajoy, con representantes de la industria digital y de las tecnologías de la Sociedad de la Información, tuvo lugar esta convención sobre el mundo digital, de las nuevas tecnologías y de las comunicaciones electrónicas. La organización del acto corrió a cargo del Partido Popular, con la voluntad de ser el más importante foro de diálogo y encuentro entre un partido político mayoritario y este sector.

Rajoy aprovechó el foro para exponer la postura de su partido en temas tan candentes como la aplicación del llamado canon digital y su voluntad de buscar vías alternativas para la compensación. Rajoy quiso, así, escenificar su idea de implicar a los diferentes sectores implicados en el debate para obtener ideas sobre cómo debe ser la aplicación del canon. Por esta razón desde su partido se ha creado la página web www.dialogodigitalpopular.com.

Entre el nutrido grupo de asistentes a este evento se puede destacar la presencia de autoridades en el campo de las telecomunicaciones y las nuevas tecnologías como Santiago Cortés, presidente de HP en España y Portugal; Alfredo Redondo, presidente de Alcatel en España y Latinoamérica; Fernando Rodríguez, consejero delegado de Optimedia; Daisuke Takada, presidente de NEC en España y Portugal; o Carlos Moreira, presidente de Wisekey. Por parte del partido político, estuvieron presentes Juan Costa, coordinador del programa electoral del Partido Popular, y Javier Cremades, coordinador del Diálogo Digital Popular. Mariano Rajoy fue el encargado de clausurar la convención.