Get Rid of Passwords : Use OpenID

Imagine getting to use the same id and passwords for all the internet sites that you use without having to worry about security, wouldn't it be a lot more convenient? yes, that day is fast approaching when all you would need to do is type in a special id and password and voila! You are logged in irrespective of the site you are using. And the name of this seemingly magical innovation is OpenID.

What is an OpenID? OpenID is a shared identity service, which allows users on the internet highway to log on to many different web sites using a single digital identity, eliminating the need for a different user name and password for each site. OpenID is a decentralized, free and open standard that lets users control the amount of personal information they provide.

The OpenID is in the form of a URL like http://your-name.identity-provider.com. This URL can be the domain name of your own website, or the URL of an OpenID Identity Provider. To validate your identity when you need to login to a site you would require to log in to the Identity Service Provider.

Using OpenID-enabled sites, web users do not need to remember traditional items of identity such as username and password. Instead, they only need to be registered with any OpenID "identity provider" (IdP). Since OpenID is decentralized, any website can use OpenID as a way for users to sign in; OpenID does not require a centralized authority to confirm a user's digital identity.

The original OpenID authentication protocol was developed in May 2005 by Brad Fitzpatrick, creator of popular community website LiveJournal, while working at Six Apart. OpenID support was soon implemented on LiveJournal and fellow LiveJournal engine community DeadJournal for blog post comments, and quickly gained attention in the digital identity community. Web developer JanRain was an early supporter of OpenID, providing OpenID software libraries and expanding its business around OpenID-based services.

As Brad Fitzpatrick said, “Nobody should own this. Nobody’s planning on making any money from this. The goal is to release every part of this under the most liberal licenses possible, so there’s no money or licensing or registering required to play. It benefits the community as a whole if something like this exists, and we’re all a part of the community.”

This statement continues to resonate today within the OpenID community.

The OpenID Foundation continues to grow its corporate membership base. While Google, IBM, Microsoft, Verisign, and Yahoo! all joined as corporate board members in early 2008, the first large media site, BBC joined the foundation in late April. Notable sites are realizing the benefits of accepting OpenID. Sourceforge, the world's largest open source development site, recently started accepting OpenIDs. As stated in their announcement, "OpenID is getting tremendous traction and we are happy to be jumping into it. It's bringing us back in touch with fresh web (2.0) technology".

Now the question is how to get your own OpenID? Surprise! You may already have one. If you use any of the following services, you already have your own OpenID:

AOL
openid.aol.com/screenname

Blogger
blogname.blogspot.com

Flickr
www.flickr.com/photos/username

LiveDoor
profile.livedoor.com/username

LiveJournal
username.livejournal.com

Orange (France Telecom)
http://openid.orange.fr/

SmugMug
username.smugmug.com

Technorati
technorati.com/people/technorati/username

Vox
member.vox.com

Yahoo
http://openid.yahoo.com

WordPress.com
username.wordpress.com

But still if you want to start afresh, there are numerous realiable sites available which provides your with your own OpenID. Some of the well-known sites are listed below:

ClaimID
http://claimid.com/

MyOpenID
https://www.myopenid.com/

VeriSign
https://pip.verisignlabs.com/

You can read more about these kind of technological reviews and updates by subscribing to The Chronicles of R. So what are you waiting for? Grab your own OpenID and get rid of passwords from your life once and for all :)