Many websites allow you to login using email and password, username and password, and others make you provide a form of information each time you login. Some usernames are an email address, some are all lowercase, some have to contain numbers. Well, I know I have about 100 accounts, and I am tired of remembering which username and password is one which site. Even if I try to make them all the same, many of them don’t fit the requirements. I am also tired of filling out registration forms to join new sites. The solution to this problem is OpenID. “OpenID is a safe, faster; and easier way to log in to web sites.
Definition – OpenID is an identity system for the Web that allows users to log in to different services (ones who accept OpenID) with the same single digital identity. OpenID is a free system that replaces the common login process that uses a login-name and a password, by allowing a user to log in once and gain access to the resources of multiple systems. It is not meant for highly sensitive accounts like those at a bank website that require multiple login verifications, but for sites that follow the simpler username/password paradigm.
An OpenID is in the form of a unique URL, and is authenticated by the user’s “OpenID provider”. OpenID authentication is now used and provided by several large websites. Providers include AOL, Google, Blogger, MySpace, Flicker, Orange, LiveJournal, WordPress.com, and Yahoo.
If you use any of the above services, you already have your own OpenID. Follow this link for instructions on how to sign in with each of the providers on an OpenID enabled website.
Depending on the provider, you may be able to specify additional information such as your name, an email address, or birthday, which websites commonly ask for when registering a new account or completing a user profile. If a website asks for any of this information, your OpenID provider will ask your permission before providing any of your information to the website. This exchange of profile elements is known as the Simple Registration Protocol. In this way, OpenID can help simplify not just website logins but also your user profiles.
Sources:
2 Comments. Leave new
[…] Organizing your life online starts with an online identity, something you can use wherever you go on the web. If you don’t know what OpenID is, read our previous post on, What is OpenID? […]
[…] Organizing your life online starts with an online identity, something you can use wherever you go on the web. If you don’t know what OpenID is, read our previous post on, What is OpenID? […]