Patent ID: 8024777

Claim:
A system, comprising: an authentication authority computing device encoded with instructions that, if executed, result in: accessing an authentication request including a first authentication object of a first domain and containing information specifying a network resource of the first domain; comparing the request for the first domain to a core identity database; correlating the first domain to a particular one of a plurality of validation standards; authenticating the first domain according to the comparison and according to the correlated standard; if the first domain is authenticated, accessing assertions made by the core identity of the first domain; sending messaging to a client indicating that the first domain is authenticated, wherein the messaging provides a second different authentication object for a second different domain; wherein the plurality of validation standards includes at least a first validation standard and a second validation standard, and wherein if a given domain is authenticated according to the first standard then the authentication authority computing device provides a computing device of the first domain with a grammar that includes at least one command for the owner of the given domain to submit assertions with respect to a network resource of another domain.