Anonymous Electronic Identity in Cross-Border and Cross-Sector Environments

Cross-Border and Cross-Sector communication in eGovernment is the most complicated area of identity management. The need of strong authentication, privacy protection as well as very complex relationships among a large number of government subjects and many citizens create a very complex environment. Current technologies supporting strong authentication which are applied in Cross-Border and Cross-Sector environment raise many significant issues, particularly in identity management: overcomplicated organisation, insufficient security (including privacy protection issues), interoperability issues, etc. The new ALUCID (R) technology based on new principles of anonymous identity enables markedly different and simpler identity management with strong authentication support. This paper aims to compare ALUCID with PKI (Public Key Infrastructure, a well-known identity management technology used in Cross-Border and Cross-Sector environment of eGovernment) from user's and government's point of view. It focus on organisational aspects of eID issuing and verification, various interoperability issues, language issues, legislative framework variety, cultural differences and privacy protection issues related to identity use and management. The specific features of the ALUCID technology which was designed to support the specific needs of eGovernment in a Cross-Border and Cross-Sector environment are also described herein.