Open Identity Exchange to Issue Digital Credentials

A new Open Identity Exchange (OIX) has been established with the goal of building trust in the exchange of online identity credentials across public and private sectors.


With initial grants from the OpenID Foundation (OIDF) and Information Card Foundation (ICF), OIX has been approved as a trust framework provider by the United States Government to certify online identity management providers to U.S. federal standards for identity assurance.


Google, Paypal, and Equifax are the first three identity providers certified by OIX to issue digital identity credentials that will be accepted for privacy-protected registration and login at U.S. government websites. Verizon is currently in the certification process and is expected to be completed shortly.


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the first government website accepting these credentials, including OpenID and Information Card logins.


"OpenID and Information Card technologies can solve the technical problem of using identity credentials across different websites, but can't solve the problem of how those credentials can be trusted at different levels of assurance. OIX is a solution to this problem not just for the U.S. government, but for many different governments, industry alliances, non-profit associations, telcos, academic networks, and others all over the world who need to establish trust across a wide online population," said Don Thibeau, OIDF Executive Director and OIX Board Chair.
http://www.openidentityexchange.org]