In its bid to boost web security in the US, the Barack Obama administration is working out a plan to issue American computer users with an internet identity, a media report said Monday.

周一有媒体报道说，为了增强美国的网络安全，奥巴马政府正在制定计划，给美国的电脑用户发放网络身份证。

Obama has put the US Commerce Department in charge of the cybersecurity initiative, the Daily Mail reported.

The Obama administration is drafting a paper called the National Strategy for Trusted Identities, which investigates ways that web users can protect their online identities.

But Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said that it should not be mistaken as national identity card.

"We are not talking about a national ID card," he said at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

"We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorise¹ a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities," he added.

He said the Commerce Department is setting up a national programme to work on the project.

Possible methods of creating a "trusted identity" could include issuing a "smart card" or digital certificates that would prove that online users are who they say they are. They could then be used to buy goods and carry out financial transactions（交易，处理） on the internet, the report said.

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator² Howard Schmidt said the move does not mean that anonymity³（匿名） will be compromised.

"I don't have to get a credential（证书，凭据） if I don't want to," he said.

There's no chance that "a centralised database will emerge", and "we need the private sector⁴ to lead the implementation⁵（实现，履行） of this", he added, according to CNET website.