Is AOL exploiting OpenID?
Yesterday, Michael Arrington (of Tech Crunch) posted an article posturing that AOL (along with Microsoft, Google and Yahoo) are attempting to exploit OpenID by being OpenID Providers (OP) and not becoming OpenID Relying Parties (RP). I attempt to address a number of issues in this post below.
"By becoming Issuing parties, AOL and Yahoo hope to see their users logging in all over the Internet with those credentials. But they don’t accept IDs from anywhere else, so anyone that uses their services has to create new credentials with them. It’s all gain, no pain."In addition to not being true (about AOL), the above statement doesn't make sense. There is little value in having to store a user's identity credentials and then verifying against them when it comes to identity management. A company's decisions around when to require a local account and when to accept 3rd party identities revolves around the risk of the resources being offered. If the 3rd party identity provider (in this case an OP) is trustworthy, then it's much preferrable to "outsource" the identity verification to that provider rather than deal with the security and privacy issues of storing credentials. Plus with OPs that support one-time-passwords, hardware tokens, etc, a RP can gain the benefit of strong authentication without having to implement the infrastructure themselves. So, it's not "all gain, no pain". In fact, requiring people to create account is PAINFUL (both for the company and for the user).
"Issuing parties make their user accounts OpenID compatible. Relying parties are websites that allow users to sign into their sites with credentials from Issuing parties. Of course, sites can also be both. In fact, if they aren’t both [OP and RP] it can be confusing and isn’t a good user experience."Actually, I would disagree with this statement. The point of OpenID is to provide a user with a few identities (maybe one) that they can use at many web sites across the internet. This means that many sites will just be RPs and won't need to support the OP parts of the protocol. I do agree that the next wave of adoption will be more sites (large and small) becoming RPs. For AOL, being an RP is important because it allows more people to use our services without requiring them to create yet another account with another password to remember. The more people that visit and interact with AOL services, the more successful AOL will be. Both ficlets and Circa Vie are OpenID relying parties and a substantial number of their users are 3rd party OpenIDs.
"It’s time for these companies to do what’s right for the users and fully adopt OpenID as relying parties. That doesn’t fit in with their strategy of owning the identity of as many Internet users as possible, but it certainly fits in with the Internet’s very serious need for an open, distributed and secure single log in system (OpenID is all three)."I have two things in regards to this quote. First, it is not AOL's strategy to "own the identity of as many Internet users as possible". I've already stated why above. Second, there is another element that is key to the "Internet's very serious need" and that is "trust". Some call it reputation. It's great that OpenID 2.0 is open, distributed and secure (from a data-on-the-wire perspective). However, relying parties need to assess the business risk in regards to the resources (e.g. free storage, free domain names, free email) they are providing. With OpenID 2.0, it's possible to implement an OpenID Provider that claims using strong authentication to verify the user but in reality is not even requiring a password. This means anyone can sign up at any RP without needing an account at the OP. The RP needs to determine if the business risk to this kind of abuse is acceptable. I believe it is this later case that is causing the larger companies to move more slowly when it comes to enabling all their services to 3rd party OpenIDs. Note that not even at Live Journal can you create an account with a 3rd party OpenID. What you can do at Live Journal is leave comments and be added to friend's lists.
[Reposted with permission from Identity in Practice]
» Submitted by gffletch on March 25, 2008 - 8:26am.
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oh
oh yeah
_______________________________________________
CHANGE WE CAN! YES WE NEED!
abdominoplastia - cirurgia plastica
wtf
wtf
pheonia allen
my name is new new
OPEN ID
I AM SO PROUD OF AOL, AS A SOFTWARE CO., THAT CONTINUES ACTIVELY TO PROVEIDS BETTER SERVICE AND SOFTWARE EVERY YEAR, BUT STILL RETAINS THE SAME USER FRIENDLY QUALITY SO EVERYONE CAN USE IT ALWAYS, JUST AS YOUR EARLIEST EDITIONS WERE.
YOU OF COURSE MUST RECEIVE SOME FINANCIAL GAINS, BUT IT IS NOT EVIDENT AS YOUR FOCUS ISSUE. (AND THAT IS REMARKABLE TOO....WE LIVE IN A CORPORATE WORLD, WHERE FINANCIAL SUCESS IS OFTEN MORE RESPECTION THAT THE CONTRIBUTION, SO GOOD JOB AGAIN)
YOU CAN TRULY PRIDE YOURSELVES AS "TECHIES" WHOSE VISIBLE GOAL IS TO PROVIDE BETER ABD BETTER SOTEWARE FOR THE USER. AND PERSONALLY FO ME, THE "WONDER" OF LIVE HELP IS EXCEPTIONAL....SO OFTEN, IT'S THE LITTLE ISSUES THAT OCCUR, NEEDING JUST A QUICK SOLVE PIECE OF ADVICE, AND THE USER IS BACK INTO THE PROCESS. NO LONG WAIT TIME. THE PROCESS IS NOT LOST...
PEOPLE WHO USE COMPUTERS OFTEN START FOR BUSINESS REASONS, BUT THEY SOON LEARN TO ENJOY THE COMPUTER FAR BEYOND THE ORIGINAL NEEDS THAT BROUGHT THEM ONLINE BREIFLY, JUST FOR FUN, BUT ULTIMATELY FOR USER,1ST FOR BUSNESS, THEN FOR FUN, SUDDENLY BECOME PASSIONATE BECAUSE THEY COME TO REALISE THEY LEARN THE ACTUALLY NOW HAVE THE ABLILITY TO DEVELOP THE WHOLE WOLRLD...AS FAR AS THE WISH TO EXTEND THEMSELVE. THERE ARE NO LIMITS...TO WHAT YOUR MIND CAN DO, IF YOU HAVE A COMPUTER AND GOOD SOFTWARE A BIT OF INTELLIGENCE AND THAT PASSION. YOU CAN ACHEIVE ANYTHING YOU DESIRE. THESE ARE REAL INSTANCES WHEN THE USER CHOOSES MAKES ALL THE CHOICES. HE IS A BECOME THE LEADER, HIS EFFORTS ALONE DETERMINE HIS ACHIEVEMENT JUST THESE SPECIAL TIMES AND OPPOUTUNITES TO PERSUE WHATEVER INTERSTS HIM ALONE.
AT SHUT DOWN TIME WE'RE BACK IN THR REAL WORLD WHERE OTHERS NEEDS MUST BE CONSIDERED ALWAYS.
SO AOL AND THE COMPUTER IS UNIQUE. WE CHOOSE WHAT WE CARE ABOUT. WE ACHEIVE FAR BEYOND OUR ABILITIES WHEN WE REALISE THERE ARE NO LIMITS IN WHAT YOU CAN DO, AND GROW BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER, RIGHT ALONG WITH YOUR SOFTWARE.
I RECOGNIZE THAT...AND YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW MUCH GOOD AOL SOFTWARE DOES, FOR EVERYONE, IT DESIGNED TO BE USER FRIENDLY, W/ QUICK SOLUTION ACCESS BY LIVE HELP, AND ULTIMATLEY ACTUALLY GREATLY IMPROVES THE QUALITY OF EACH USERS LIFE.
THEY DO THINGS FOR BEYOND WHAT THEY EVER REALIZED THE COULD DO. THE LOGIC OF YOU SYSTEM EXTENDS THE ABILTIES ACROSS ALL REALMS OF KNOWLEGE. OPEN TO ANYONE. WHEN YOU COME TO THE REALIZATION THERE IS NOTHING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD NOW THAT YOU CAN'T KNOW OR UNDERSTAND, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS YOUR INTEREST ALONE AND THAT IS A REALIZATION OF OWN'S REAL POWER/POTENTIAL: NOTHING WITH A LITTLE IMAGINATION AND INTERST IS EVER DENIED TO YOU ONLINE IT ALWAYS THER WAITING FOR YOU TO LOCATE IT.
ACCESSABLE TO ALL INCOME LEVELS AS WELL. EVERYONE REALLY CAN AFFORD A COMPUTER W/ AOL. IN THAT WAS WE ARE EVEN IN THIS ONE UNIQUE EXPERIENCES, UNBIASED BY INCOME BARRIES, RACIAL, BARIER, AND OCCASSIONALLY BELIEF SYSTEMS.
THE GOAL IS THE LEARNING, AND THE SHARING.
YOU HAVE ACHIEVED THAT...DID YOU EVER GUESS THAT YOU LITTLE 1 PRODUCT COULD IN SO MANY WAYS IMPACT THE BETTERMENT OF MANKIND?
AND YOU TAKE NO CREDIT FOR IT...EVERYONE CHOOSES AOL FIRST BECAUSE IS 'GOOD"....BUT UNTIL THEY REAALY GET INTO COMPUTERS, YJEY HAVE NO IDAE HOW GOOD, HOW WONDERFULL IT CAN IMPROVE EACH USER'S LIFE. I'VE NEVER HEARD YOU TAKE CREDIT FOR THAT, PERHAPS YOU REALIZE THE VASTNESS WOULD NOT BE BELIEVED UNTIL IT IS EXPERIENCED WHICH IS TRUE.
BUT YOU ARE A SPECIAL KIND OF COMPASNY. YOU PROVE GOOD SOFTWARE, THEN BETTER IT YEAR AFTER YEAR. YOU PROVE TOTAL EQUALITY, AND HOW MANY TIME HAS THAT BEEN TRIED AND FAILED, BUT ENABEABLE EACH USE THE OPPORTUNITY TO OPEN THE MIND AND LEARN AND SEE THE WORLD ACTUALLY IS JUST ONE PLACE POPULATED BY WONDERFUL PEOPLE, WHO FIND THEMSELVES ACHEIVENG BEYOND THE REALMS THEY EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE.
WHAT BOOK, WHAT TV SHOW, WHAT "ANYTHING" HAS EVER BEFORE BEEN PPUT INTO THE HAND OF ANY USER WHO, WITH A BIT OF PASSION, CAN FIND THEY CAN ACTUALLY ACHEIVE WHATEVER THEY CHOSE?
I'M IMPRESSED, I'M PROUD OF YOR ACHIEVEMENTS. MICRSOFT INSTEAD SHOULD BEE ASHAMED. THEY DO NOT PROVIDE QUALITY SOFTWARE AS THEY ONCE DID. PEOPLE BUY MS FOR THEIR NAME LIKE YOURS. EVERYONE KNOWS AOL OR MS, BUT SOON MS IS GOING TO REALISE THAT THEIR INFERIOR SOTWARE OF TODAY, WILL MAKE THEIR NAME JUST AS QUICKLY FORGOTTEN. I SEE THEM AS PRODCT MAKERS ONLY, W/O CARE OF QUALITY; BECAUSE IT'S GONE.
YOU HAVE MADE YOURSELF FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL, PERHAPS BEYOND MY GUESS, BUT YOU REMAIN TRUE TO BETTER YOU AOL, AND KEEPING IT AFFORDABLE STILL THAT NO ONE IS EVER DENIED ACCESS IF THEY HAVE AN INTEREST, AND ENABLE EACH OF US THE OPPORTUITY TO BROAD ONE'S MIND TO A LEVEL OF "VASTNESS", AND STIILL FINAALY INY THIS ONE TINY EASY TO USE, FINALLY HELP EVERY TO SEE BEYONG BIASES TO TOTALL THAT FINALLY WE CAN SEE THE IN TRUTH WE ARE JUST ONE WORLD FULL OF INTERING PEOPLE.
I INTENDED SO SAY I USE I PASSWORD FOR ALL ACCOUNTS, IT GIVE THAT DESIGNATED PESON QUCK ACCESS TO SOLVE SECURITY ISSUES, ETC, AND STILL WE BECAUSE WE ARE A FAMIY, WE EACH NEVER BREACH THE'S PRIVACY. IT'S SO SIMPLE, BUT VERY EFFECTIBE, BUT AS I UNDERSTAND YOUR OPEN ID, WE COULD USES SAME PASSWORDS ACRROSS THE DOMAINS. THAT WOULD ONCE AGAIN BE A HUGE STEP IN USER FRIENDLY COMPUTERING. IT'S TEDIOUS MAKING UP NEW NAMES PASSWORDS IF YOU USE MULTIPLE SITES. AND, DESPITE ALL, I LOOSE THEM , DESPITE ALL MY BEST EFFORTS TO KEEP A SIMPLE TRACK SYSTEM WORLING. SO I FIND I HAVE NEW ACCOUNTS AND OLD ACCOUNTS OF THE SAME SIGHTS, BECAUSE WE STIVE TO KEEP THE PASSWORDS UNIQUE, THAT BY DESIGN, THEY ARE QUICKLY FORGOTTEN IF NOT USED OFTEN. THAT'S MY STORY, I GUESS, I JUST LIKE THE LOGIC SEEING ONE PASSWORD, TRULY UNIGUE WORKS FOR OUR FANILY ACCOUNTS, AND HAVE ONE PASSWORD FOR MULTIPLE WEBS ALLOWS THE USE TO BE AS UNIQUE AS THEY DESIRE, AND YET, THEY'LL NEVER FORGET, OT TRACK LIKE ID, BECAUSE IT'S THE ACCEPTABE PASSWORDS FOR ALL THE GOOD SITES.
TELL ME HOW I SIGNUP!
I THINK IT'S A TERRIFIC IDEA, YOU ARE NOT TAKING ADVANGAGE OF ANY EXISTING WEBSITE, YOU'RE ALWAYS IMPROVING YOUR SERVICE , THIS IS ANOTHOR TERRIFIC IDEA; FRANKLY OTHER SOFTWARE CAN EASILY JOIN YOU, BUT PERHAPS THEY JUST REALLY DO NOT WANT THE BOTHER...NO EXCUSES FOR THOSE WEBS TO ACCUSE YOU OF TAKING OVER THE MARKET. YOU PROVIDE WITH EXCEPTIONAL EFFORT AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE GOOD "EASY" SOTWARE THAT ANY ONE CAN USE THEN BUILD ON TO ENABLE THEM TO OPEN THE WORLD, (THEN YOU GET YOR PROFITS). OTHER COMPANIES HAVE THE FOCUS OF THEIR EFFORTS OUT OF ORDER.
WOW, I HAVE INJURED HANDS, JUST 1 FINGER NOW TO TYPE. IT LONG AND HARD, SO PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT IT TOO HARD TO GO BACK AND FIS THE ERRORS. MY HAND...JUST THIS LITTLE FINGER, CAN NOT KEEP UP W/ MY MIND.
MY APOLOGIES, DO NOS SEEM THEM AS DISRESPECTFUL OR SEE THE AND OVERLOOK THE SINCEREITY OF MY EFFORTS. PEOPLE WHO MOVE THIS WORL FORWARD SHOULD BE TOLD THEY DO SO, AND BE ALLOWED TO FEEL THE GRATUFICATION THE DESERVE.
PRETTY8763
Trusted OpenID providers
I do believe there is a list of OpenID providers with providers that AOL trusts, right?
In my blog entry about CardSpace and OpenID I logged on to http://dev.aol.com with an account from www.myopenid.com.
- Mark Blomsma
me lady
wht good lady