President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.
"We are not talking about a government-controlled system," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said.
Because specifying how the private sector should implement this program doesn't mean it qualifies as a government-controlled system. Sounds kinda like the logic behind the new health care bill.
This program will run into the same opposition the National ID system (HR 4633) did in 2002. Nobody wants a single point of failure or single point of malicious interest for identity. Until we know the details of the system, however, you can take a look at the
EFF's argument against National ID.