Phase 2 promotes secure Web services Liberty Alliance has rolled out Phase 2 of its federated identity specifications, bringing added identity capabilities to Web services. The organization is also mapping out plans for Phase 3.The Phase 2 specifications round out the existing Liberty Federation Framework and provide the foundation for the Liberty Identity Web Services Framework, the alliance said.“Phase 1 was about federated identity for single sign-on. Phase 2, at a high level, is about permissions-based attribute sharing,” said Paul Madsen, security analyst at Entrust and a member of the Liberty Alliance Technology Expert Group. The framework provides a way of delivering identity-based Web services that are more secure and private, according to the alliance.Liberty Alliance also has introduced a Services Expert Group to develop interoperable service specifications that utilize the Liberty Identity Web Services Framework and address the needs of specific industries, applications, and business models. These proposals, to be called ID-SIS (Identity Service Interface Specifications), will constitute Phase 3 of Liberty’s specifications.The first two ID-SISes released include an ID-Personal Profile that defines a standard template for basic registration information so organizations can speak to one another in a common language and can offer interoperable services. The other specification, ID-Employee Profile, defines similar information targeted at internal employees. The alliance is also planning to develop the following ID-SISes for Phase 3: Contact Book Service Interface, for managing and sharing business contacts; Geolocation Service Interface, for identifying a person’s location to provide services such as news; and Presence Service Interface, a common way to share presence information. Technology Industry