Microsoft Alters Passport, Launches MSN Wallet As Part Of FTC Deal

The update, .Net Passport 2.5, incorporates a list of changes, including required e-mail validation, the ability to close Passport accounts more easily, and a new storage area for protecting subscribers' privacy.

With the required e-mail validation feature, anyone who creates a Passport account or makes changes to his or her sign-in name will have to use a valid e-mail address. Microsoft also has scrapped its previous requirement that users contact customer service to cancel Passport accounts. Users now can close their own accounts by accessing a Microsoft-provided link.

In addition, all .Net Passport user-interface Web pages will be transferred from the passport.com domain to the passport.net domain in order to prevent user identities from being exposed. As a result, those pages can't be used to access the cookies for Passport authentication.

The first .Net Passport 2.5 features are slated to be released Tuesday, with the remaining changes to be added by the end of this month, Microsoft said.

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Also, Microsoft plans to replace its Passport Express Purchase service with a new service, dubbed MSN Wallet, to separate its authentication service from its online customer information database, which includes credit-card numbers and sensitive user data.

MSN Wallet, slated to launch Tuesday, will handle new purchasing and ordering information, but the Passport Express Purchase service will be retained through March 2003 to enable subscribing merchants to use it through the holiday season, according to Microsoft.

In early August, Microsoft signed an agreement with the FTC after the commission ordered the vendor to design a program to ensure the security, confidentiality and integrity of personal information collected about users of its Passport online authentication service.