Microsoft to use Longhorn to secure Web

MICROSOFT will tackle the growing fear of identity theft in its upcoming version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, with a technology it calls ‘info-cards', the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The scheme bears a resemblance to the Passport scheme Microsoft tried reasonably unsuccessfully to introduce to its online services like MSN and Hotmail, as it relies on users being willing to hand over their personal data to 'trusted' companies.

Info-cards, said the Journal, will allow users to "selectively disclose information about themselves to businesses or others online". The software will store users' personal information such as credit-card numbers or phone numbers and allow data to be transferred in an encrypted form "that can be decoded only by trusted Web sites".

Beta testing of Longhorn is begin this summer, and the software may be released commercially in 2006. A security-enhanced Internet Explorer is scheduled for release this summer. µ

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