You all my have stumbled past Microsoft's Passport or some other centrally located login repository. Last night I found one that's still in alpha stages, but has a lot of promise. It's called SharedID. It's built using two other promising technologies: FOAF and Atom.
You store your FOAF file with them (the part I don't care for) and sites (including MT based sites) can request access to it to validate your existence for login purposes. (did that make since?).
Personally, I think it's a great idea. The thing I don't like is that my FOAF file (the digital reference to the real me) is living on someone elses server. Somehow there neads to be a way to let each person manage their own existence in their own managed realm.
Now, granted, sooner or later there should be a server admin to monitor the actual physical box, but there's something about giving out my identity (I know we do this daily) that really doesn't sit well.
SharedID will work great I'm sure, and be used by at least a few sites in the near future. There is something more though. Just over the horizon. Let's see if we can think our way there.
Posted by TheIdeaMan at July 14, 2004 08:00 PM | TrackBack