Identity Management In The Public Sector

Identity management is at the heart of citizen-facing public sector information technology. It is an essential part of the infrastructure needed to create new electronic services, to modernise government, and to enhance law enforcement. Debates about this topic tend to gravitate towards discussing various forms of smart card, including national identity cards. Although such technology is likely to be chosen to implement public sector identity management projects, it represents the tip of the iceberg of the whole structure. More fundamental decisions concern how to establish a basis of trust across public sector organisations, tiers of government, and ultimately in international collaboration. Projects with limited and well-defined objectives are required now, to gain experience and tackle problems in digestible chunks. This report examines the issues, challenges, available strategies and some examples of current public sector identity management projects.