URL-based identity with
Simon Willison / simonwillison.net
Being-Digital
10th June 2008

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Windows
Live ID

Centralised SSO betrays
the principles of the Web

OpenID is a decentralised
mechanism for SSO

With OpenID 2.0, you just
have to specify your provider

OpenID lets you prove
that you own a given URL

Upcoming
last.fm

Common misconceptions
• OpenID complements your existing user
database; it doesn’t replace it
• Spammers have OpenIDs too! You still need
to take your own measures to verify the
morality of your users
• Having your eggs in one basket means you
can take extra steps to protect that basket

Hardware tokens