June 28, 2008
First Verified Age Information Cards

IDology Verified Over 18 cardLast week IDology demonstrated a first that many of us see great possibilities for: an Information Card making a verified age claim. I’m excited at this first step towards the goal of enabling people to routinely use interoperable verified claims about themselves via Information Cards.

Obtaining my age-verified card online was easy. I submitted my name, address, and birth date (via a self-issued card) to IDology’s verification process. Next they asked me a few additional questions to confirm that I was likely to be the person who I claimed to be. With correct answers in hand, they proceeded to issue me an Information Card enabling me to make IDology-verified claims on my own behalf.

I used the card at two (demo) relying parties: a social networking site that restricts membership to people 18 and over and an online wine store. You can also imagine verified identity information being valuable at job and career sites, at dating sites, when applying for insurance or credit, for enrolling in promotions, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Please join me in congratulating IDology on this significant achievement. I believe it will be the first of many good things to come in the verified identity space!


The remainder of this post shows the process of obtaining and using my verified identity Information Card. In some cases I intentionally went through extra steps, such as previewing the cards before sending them, to make it completely clear what is occurring. The address of the demo site is obscured at IDology’s request because this is not yet a production service. Some of the (real) data about me used to obtain the card is obscured for privacy reasons.

Signing Up for a Verified Age Card

SocialNet start page

The experience starts by visiting the “SocialNet” site, which invites me to join. I click “Join SocialNet Today”.

SocialNet join page

SocialNet lets me join either by typing my information into a web form or by providing it via an Information Card. I click the Information Card icon.

SocialNet join card selection

This brings up CardSpace, where I choose a self-issued card with my home address.

SocialNet join card preview

I preview the card, seeing that the site will be sent my name, address, and birth date. I click “Send”.

SocialNet verification questions

I’m asked two questions that I should know the answers to to help confirm that I am who I say I am. I answer them correctly.

SocialNet joined

Having passed the identity verification process, I’m given the opportunity to download an Information Card for my newly verified identity. I click on “Download Managed InfoCard”.

Install IDology card

I click the “Install and Exit” button to install my verified identity Information Card.

Using the Card at SocialNet

SocialNet login page

Now that I have a verified age card, I use it to sign in at SocialNet by clicking on the Information Card icon.

SocialNet login card selection

I choose my IDology verified Information Card and click “Preview” to review the claims I’m being asked for.

SocialNet login card preview

SocialNet is only asking for my name and the PPID for my card. I send them.

SocialNet logged in

I’m logged into SocialNet using my verified Information Card.

Using the Card at OnlineWineMerchant.com

OnlineWineMerchant login page

Now I go to another site that accepts my verified age Information Card: “OnlineWineMerchant.com”. I click the Information Card icon to sign in.

OnlineWineMerchant login card selection

My IDology verified Information Card is accepted by the site. I choose it and click “Preview”.

OnlineWineMerchant login card preview

OnlineWineMerchant.com is also only asking for my name and a PPID. (In a real deployment, I suspect it would be asking for an age claim of some kind too.) I send the card.

OnlineWineMerchant logged in

I’m logged into OnlineWineMerchant.com using my verified age card, letting me take advantage of the verification I did for SocialNet on this site too. This is the synergy that will make Information Cards with verified identity claims a valuable addition to the identity landscape.

5 Responses to “First Verified Age Information Cards”

  1. Age verification information cards « Identity Blogger on 29 Jun 2008 at 10:03 am #

    […] 29, 2008 · No Comments Mike Jones has this interesting post about an age verification service based on information cards from Idology. Although not yet […]

  2. Cardspace Community Bloggers on 29 Jun 2008 at 3:18 pm #

    Superbad (use case)…

    Mike is excited (but in a mature age-appropriate way) about IDology’s verified age cards. IDology brags…

  3. Magnus Stjernstrom on 30 Jun 2008 at 8:32 pm #

    Thanks for the post, Mike. Looking forward to working more with Cardspace. Daniel Sanders from Novell was of great help putting this demo together. Can’t wait to work with some other sites on this!

    /Magnus – IDology

  4. The ID Space » Blog Archive » Starting to Build Trusted Identity Online Through Verified Age InfoCards on 01 Jul 2008 at 10:30 am #

    […] to develop a prototype for using managed “age” cards. Mike does an excellent job of walking through the process in his recent blog post. If you are curious as to how Information Cards are going to work, this is a must read. I think you […]

  5. Mike Jones: self-issued » Internet Safety Technical Task Force Report on 14 Jan 2009 at 1:35 am #

    […] verified claims about individuals, and to thank Idology and Novell for making this real with a working demo of verified age cards for the task […]

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