[Preston] Ideas for the future

[Andy Smith]

Hi Gena,

On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 06:50:38PM +0100, Georgina wrote:
> Well, I'm confused straight away, in respect of attempting to
> understanding the security advantages over one ID system over
> another.

The way I see it:

If you use services A, B and C from different organisations, all of
which have their own authentication scheme, then you need to give
and maintain credentials at three different sites.  These
credentials will be subject to three different privacy policies and
will be accessible to many people at three different organisations.

If you use services A, B and C from different organisations, all of
which accept OpenID run by organisation D (which may be yourself),
then you have to maintain credentials with organisation D only.  A,
B and C will have to take D's word for it that you are who you say
you are, and aside from the fact that you use their services, that's
all A, B and C need to know.  Your convenience is increased and your
exposure to risk is decreased.

If you want to add morals in to it, as of course everyone including
me does -- with everything -- then that's something different, but
supporting some different community for moral/ethical/political
reasons is not the main point of OpenID as a technology, in my
opinion.

That doesn't stop some service switching to OpenID for these moral,
ethical or political reasons either of course.  It's just a tool..

Cheers,
Andy

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