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

[David Fuelling]

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 3:37 PM, Martin Atkins <mart at degeneration.co.uk>wrote:

> David Fuelling wrote:
>
>>
>> I agree.  It may not be a good assumption, but my impression is that my
>> OpenID (http://openid.sappenin.com) is going to be "under my control" and
>> "appropriate to use" for a much longer time than my common email addresses (
>> something at gmail.com <mailto:something at gmail.com>, somethingelse at yahoo.com<mailto:
>> somethingelse at yahoo.com>, personal at sappenin.com <mailto:
>> personal at sappenin.com>, etc) because it makes sense to use different
>> email addresses throughout my day, year, and life -- whereas I forsee being
>> able to use the same OpenID URL forever (as long as sappenin.com <
>> http://sappenin.com> is around, at least).  In my opinion, one more
>> reason (user convenience) to just map an email address to an OpenID (XRI or
>> URL).
>>
>>
> That sounds more like an argument for you to use http://sappenin.com/ as
> your identifier instead of an email address.
>
> If you want to use a HTTP URL for your identifier, just enter that URL into
> the RP directly!
>
>
For me, an internet-savvy, genius technology person (tongue-in-cheek),
you're right.  I know what it means to use the URL, and I do.  However, my
grandmother, who's a little bit less tech-savvy (she still calls the
Internet "email"), she has no idea that she should be using a URL, let alone
what the distinction is.  We need to be thinking about these people, and
about their future freedoms.  Like it or not, people are going to be using
email addresses as their primary identifier -- as the designers of this
stuff, we need to plan ahead and add flexibility for them ahead of time.

<joking>This is about our children, and our children's children, and about
getting people to stop calling the Internet: "the email"</joking>

David
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