[OpenID] OpenID based on email addresses... Just Works!

[Ben Laurie]

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 7:07 AM, Chris Messina <chris.messina at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 4:14 PM, David Recordon <drecordon at sixapart.com> wrote:
>> Can you use POBox.com with david at yahoo.com?  For the added complexity I just
>> don't think it's worth it considering you already can't delegate your email.
>>  If you control the domain then you can choose your Provider, otherwise
>> you're at the mercy of who controls the domain.  Don't like it, then don't
>> use your Yahoo account as your OpenID.  IMHO.
>> --David
>
> I'm coming around to this perspective.
>
> While maximal flexibility would be ideal for "delegating email
> addresses", I'm willing to compromise to find the simplest, easiest,
> quickest and least costliest path to adoption.
>
> While the mapping concept is a worthwhile one technologically, I think
> that trying to push all the freedoms that you get with URL-based
> OpenIDs into email addresses could be a losing proposition.
>
> If we can support email addresses with maximal flexibility with
> minimal costs, great, but from what I've seen of how changes actually
> get made, changing the OpenID spec as little as possible is the best
> way forward.
>
> It sounds like the OpenID.identity approach might be the best way to
> make this happen, pronto, without mucking with DNS and so on.

What is "the OpenID.identity approach"?

> Remember, email addresses today aren't really explicitly supported by
> the spec; the goal should be to make that a possibility with as little
> effort as possible.

It seems to me that there's a couple of things to consider:

1. Often the RP actually wants an email address, because it wants to
be able to communicate with the user. This can be solved with AX, of
course _but_ I suspect users will be confused by having to give an
"email address" that isn't actually their email address.

2. It seems that its possible to do a pretty good job with just the
domain - the email address is just a way to get the user to tell you
what the domain is so discovery can start.

Obviously discovery is a prerequisite, though.

>
> Chris
>
> --
> Chris Messina
> Citizen-Participant &
>  Open Technology Advocate-at-Large
> factoryjoe.com # diso-project.org
> citizenagency.com # vidoop.com
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