Both Google and Microsoft have joined OpenID, a scheme to make using multiple Web sites less of a hassle. With Yahoo already on board, the scheme could reach the tipping point becoming a success – though there remain problems.

The idea of the scheme is that you can take your own user name and password from any member site and use them as a log-in for any other site in the scheme. Until January the scheme didn’t really have much point as the biggest member was LiveJournal, meaning users still needed separate details for many of the most widely used Web sites.

Yahoo joining that month was arguably the biggest addition to the scheme, but this week both Microsoft and Google came on board. On the surface this sounds like a major coup, but there’s a significant loophole.

All three of the search giants will let you use your log-in details from their systems as an OpenID – so, for example, you could automatically use your Live.com user name and password to set up an account on LiveJournal. However, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are all refusing to accept log-in details from other OpenID member sites on their own services. That means many web users will find the scheme’s benefits still don’t have that much effect on their daily surfing.

Even if this issue is rectified (which doesn’t seem likely), some users will still have nagging security concerns. In theory, the system doesn’t present any increased risk: there’s no central database of log-in details. Instead, whenever you visit a site in the scheme, the log-in box routes data through the site where you originally registered, (for example Yahoo). In this example, your details remain in Yahoo’s system and under its security system.

However, the convenience of a single log-in brings the danger that if a hacker discovers or guesses your details, they’ll be able to wreak far more havoc than if those details only covered one site.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 3:07 pm under Google, Microsoft, Security, Yahoo!.

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