Standardization, Security Key For Digital IDs

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Smart tags must have a single standard in order to become widely accepted, said Sanjay Sarma, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a panel discussion on Monday at the Global Information Summit in Tokyo.

In the same talk, titled "Infrastructures and Technologies of Digital ID Revolution," Shigeyuki Kawai, president and chief executive officer of bitWallet Inc., a firm behind the Edy e-money system, said that standardization and business expansion go hand-in-hand in the digital ID business because standardization will attract more companies to take up the technology and drive down costs.

Nokia Research Corp. Senior Vice President Tero Ojanpera, another participant in the discussion, stressed the importance of information security, saying that the success of a technology lies in its striking a good balance between information security and user-friendliness.

Hitachi Ltd. (6501) Vice President and Executive Officer Kazuo Furukawa said that a lot more technological development is needed to make e-commerce more popular. Many people do not use e-commerce because they are worried about the security level of authentication, Furukawa added.

The two-day Global Information Summit opened Monday at the Tokyo International Forum under the sponsorship of Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc.