[OpenID] OpenID Registration Scenario

[Martin Paljak]

On 12.07.2007, at 18:43, John Wang wrote:

> For nationally issued ID documents, I wouldn't be surprised if  
> government agencies like customs will have readers, but I doubt  
> most individuals will have readers (that require external hardware  
> and software drivers) to use them from their personal computers.

Many newer laptops have smart card readers built in. Many computer  
sellers in Estonia bundle a card reader with their offer and it costs  
about 6€ to buy one from virtually any computer shop in Estonia if  
your coputer does not have it. Currently roughly 80% of Estonians  
have an eID card. 50k+ users use it already (I guess daily. And the  
number is growing fast, expected to reach 300k+ by 2009). Most  
institutions that actually bite security (like banks) already have  
their internal smart card rollouts for years I guess.

Looking at usage patterns you are looking from a different view point  
- government stuff does not mean 'only those who can be forced to use  
shall use them' - people buy stuff if it helps them do something more  
easily. Digital signatures and e-services enabled by having strong  
authentication are something that allow me to live in my summer  
cottage all summer and never leave it as I can do most 'paperwork'  
over the internet. Securely. I save 2x the price of the reader if I  
don't have to go to the city for some 'official stuff'.

You will buy a reader if you have something to do with it.

> After all, why don't end users have magstripe readers for credit  
> cards with their personal computers today?
> The hardware as been available but I don't think the benefits  
> justify the additional costs.

Magnetic stripes is not a technology to compare with smart cards  
(even though you can find them both on credit cards) Magstripe is  
just a way of 'reading data' whereas smart cards provide actual value  
(crypto) not just a bunch of bits to blindly read.


-- 
Martin Paljak
http://martin.paljak.pri.ee