Crackers |
|
Microsoft Partners with Hewlett Packard on National ID
Hailey Filipelli Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft announced plans this week to launch a product to help governments verify citizens' identity. Dubbed the HP National Identity System, the new product offers governments the ability to build and implement identification management infrastructure quickly and affordably. Melissa Levine, spokesperson for the American Identity Security Union, was not encouraged by this announcement. "We have a a general rule of thumb," she said. "Good, fast, cheap- pick two. The HP National Identity System is billed as fast and cheap. The fact that Microsoft is involved is consistent with the rule of thumb." Microsoft has developed a reputation for its perpetual security challenges. For instance, hackers who planted password-stealing software on Microsoft's MSN Web site in South Korea ran amok last week for several days before being detected. And last month the software giant acknowledged a flaw in its implementation of TCP/IP protocols. In fact, consumer gripes have become so commonplace that Microsoft recently unveiled a total-health service for PC's available by subscription. Subscribers will benefit from automatic security patches among other services and have access to live technical support for no additional fee. As of yet, no such offering has been included as part of the HP National Identity System product. It is unclear what (if any) recourse national identification users would have in the event that their personal information were to be compromised as a result of the sort of security vulnerabilities that have plagued Microsoft for years now. Microsoft spokesman Jim Ingram would not comment specifically on that, but assured the media that security is and always has been a top priority for the company alongside getting government aid in securing a captive audience for its products. "We learned our lesson with that anti-trust mess a while back- if you are going to target a captive consumer base, you must have government approval or you will find yourself facing all kinds of annoying legal action. When government pre-approves your monopoly, there's no possibility of any serious legal ramifications."
|