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User authentication

OpenID is a developing industry standard for authenticating “end users” by storing their digital identity in a common format. 

When an identity is created in an OpenID system, that information is stored in the system of any OpenID service provider and translated into a unique identifier.

Identifiers take the form of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or as an Extensible Resource Identifier (XRI) that is authenticated by that OpenID service provider. 

Any software application that complies with the standard accepts an OpenID that is authenticated by a trusted provider.

A very impressive group of cloud computing vendors serve as identity providers (or OpenID providers),including AOL, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, MySpace, Orange, PayPal, VeriSign,LiveJournal, Ustream, Yahoo!, and others.

The OpenID standard applies to the unique identity of the URL; it is up to the service provider to store the information and specify the forms of authentication required to successfully log onto the system. 

Thus an OpenID authorization can include not only passwords, but smart cards, hardware keys, tokens, and biometrics as well. OpenID is supported by the OpenID Foundation (http://openid.net/foundation/), a not-for-profit organization that promotes the technology.

These are samples of trusted providers and their URL formats:

  • Blogger: <username>.blogger.com or <blogid>.blogspot.com
  • MySpace: myspace.com/<username>
  • Google: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id
  • Google Profile: google.com/profiles/<username>
  • Microsoft: accountservices.passport.net/
  • MyOpenID: <username>.myopenid.com
  • Orange: openid.orange.fr/username or simply orange.fr/
  • Verisign: <username>.pip.verisinglabs.com
  • WordPress: <username>.wordpress.com
  • Yahoo!: openid.yahoo.com

After you have logged onto a trusted provider, that logon may provide you access to other Web sites that support OpenID. 

When you request access to a site through your browser (or another application that is referred to as a user-agent), that site serves as the “relying party” and requests of the server or server-agent that it verify the end-user’s identifier. 

You won’t need to log onto these other Web sites, if your OpenID is provided. Most trusted providers require that you indicate which Web sites you want to share your OpenID identifier with and the information is submitted automatically to the next site.

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