Are uber-identity systems ready to be driven by private enterprise? Clear may have a shot at being the first to prove the concept on a mass scale.

I love my new Clear card,, which allows me skip past those long airport security lines for $100 per year. All three Bay Area airports now are equipped with Clear, as are 15 other airports around the country including two in both the NYC and DC metro areas. In literally ten minutes’ time I was signed up, and the card arrived in the mail ten days later. Now I just show a card I’m trusted, because this piece of identifying technology is linked to all sorts of other databases and systems.

Why can’t we do something similar in the financial services industry? I love my east coast business bank’s authentication security token (which generates a random number), but it drives me crazy that this same top-five company’s business credit card division won’t recognize the token issued by it’s banking side of the house. I’m also committed to my Western-US personal bank and appreciate my inside knowledge of their great behind-the-scenes authentication capabilities, but I’d also like to use that same single token there as well.

Maybe RSA, Verisign or Entrust will find some way to issue a platform similar to Clear’s, where a single private entity issues the identity device yet it gets accepted at a variety of providers. Or perhaps the ol’ upstart PayPal will give it a shot, based on their partnership with Verisign where they are rolling out tokens. PayPal is an interesting company to watch here because their original method of authentication, that of depositing two random payments, essentially allowed them to realize higher security by building on banks’ investments in security infrastructure. Now that PayPal is clearly trying to get more active customers and share of transactions, could tokens be a part of the ticket to expansion? It’s a long shot, but then again so were PtoP payments ten years ago.

I love my Clear card, and it makes me wonder: where will identity go next? And will we be taken there by an uber-initiative from a private company such as Clear, or by initiatives from financial services or payments companies?