[OIDFSC] OpenID v.Next Discovery Working Group Proposal

[Allen Tom]

Hi All,

Regarding all the various WG proposals ­ at least with the Discovery WG, I
think there¹s universal consensus that the existing OpenID 2.0 discovery
mechanism is very deficient and  must be revised or even completely
replaced. Yadis is obsolete and overly complex, and there¹s been a lot of
innovation in Discovery after OpenID 2.0 was finalized.

The authors of the OpenID User Interface extension found several cases where
OpenID discovery needed to be updated, yet extending the existing 2.0
discovery did not quite work. (RP/OP Logos/Metadata, publishing which UI
modes and display languages were supported, support for browser assistants,
etc)

The Discovery WG charter is well defined and  focused ­ the output of the WG
is expected to be usable for future iterations of OpenID. Given that the
community wants to quickly advance OpenID, my hope is that the future
discovery work can be developed in parallel and kept in sync with the other
initiatives.

Allen


On 5/21/10 6:05 PM, "Allen Tom" <atom at yahoo-inc.com> wrote:

> Per the OpenID Foundation IPR policies and procedures, this note formally
> proposes the formation of a new OpenID working group.  The charter and
> background information for the proposed group are as follows.
>  
> (a)  Charter.
> (i)       WG name:  OpenID v.Next Discovery.
> (ii)      Purpose: Produce a discovery specification or family of discovery
> specifications for OpenID v.Next that address the limitations and drawbacks
> present in the OpenID 2.0 discovery facilities that limit OpenID¹s
> applicability, adoption, usability, privacy, and security.  Specific goals
> are:
> ·      enable discovery for and normalization of OpenID identifiers, including
> those utilizing e-mail address syntax and those that are URLs,
> 
> ·      enable discovery of features supported by OpenID v.Next OpenID
> Providers and Relying Parties,
> 
> ·      enable discovery of attributes about OpenID v.Next OPs and RPs,
> including, but not limited to visual logos and human-readable site names,
> 
> ·      enable discovery supporting a spectrum of clients, including passive
> clients per current usage, thin active clients, and active clients with OP
> functionality,
> 
> ·      enable discovery supporting authentication to and use of attributes by
> non-browser applications,
> 
> ·      enable discovery of public keys,
> 
> ·      enable potential mechanisms for discovering context-relevant OpenID
> providers,
> 
> ·      seamlessly integrate with and complement the other OpenID v.Next
> specifications.
> 
>            Compatibility with OpenID 2.0 is an explicit non-goal for this
> work.
> (iii)     Scope: Produce a next generation OpenID discovery specification or
> specifications, consistent with the purpose statement.
> (iv)     Proposed List of Specifications:  OpenID v.Next Discovery and
> possibly related specifications.
> (v)      Anticipated audience or users of the work:  Implementers of OpenID
> Providers, Relying Parties, Active Clients, and non-browser applications
> utilizing OpenID.
> (vi)     Language in which the WG will conduct business:  English.
> (vii)    Method of work:  E-mail discussions on the working group mailing
> list, working group conference calls, and face-to-face meetings at the
> Internet Identity Workshop and OpenID summits.
> (viii)   Basis for determining when the work of the WG is completed:  Work
> will not be deemed to be complete until there is a consensus that the
> resulting protocol specification or family of specifications fulfills the
> working group goals.  Additional proposed changes beyond that initial
> consensus will be evaluated on the basis of whether they increase or decrease
> consensus within the working group.  The work will be completed once it is
> apparent that maximal consensus on the draft has been achieved, consistent
> with the purpose and scope.
> (b)  Background Information.
> (i)       Related work being done in other WGs or organizations:  OpenID
> Authentication 2.0 and related specifications, including Yadis 1.0.  OAuth and
> OAuth 2.0.  XRDS, XRD, host-meta, Web Linking, XAuth, LRDD, and WebFinger.
> (ii)      Proposers:
> Allen Tom, atom at yahoo-inc.com, Yahoo! (co-chair)
> Michael B. Jones, mbj at microsoft.com, Microsoft (co-chair)
> John Bradley, ve7jtb at ve7jtb.com, independent
> Dick Hardt, dick.hardt at gmail.com, independent
> 

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