OpenID
You can now use your WordPress.com blog as an OpenID. — Are you fed up with having to remember dozens of usernames and password? Does the idea of creating yet another account on yet another site leave you cold? — OpenID is a new standard that hopes to alleviate some of the pain …
Context & Ripple Effects
OpenID had already been framed against the identity systems of Yahoo, Google and MSN, while Yahoo ID could be used through a sanctioned unofficial method and OpenID proponents had introduced anti-phishing measures. WordPress.com turns that standards debate into a deployed identity option for its blog users, giving the protocol a sizable user-facing entry point.
First-order effects
- WordPress.com users can present their existing blog URL as an OpenID identity rather than create a separate credential for each participating site.
- Sites that accept OpenID can recognize WordPress.com blog owners through the standard, reducing the need to operate a separate account system for those users.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo, Google and MSN identity offerings face a clearer interoperability challenge: WordPress.com users can carry an identity controlled outside those companies' account systems.
- OpenID's phishing safeguards become more consequential as WordPress.com exposes the protocol to ordinary blog users, because trust in the sign-in flow determines whether relying sites accept those identities.
Third-order effects
- If more publishers and web services both issue and accept OpenID identities, account ownership shifts from each destination site toward portable identifiers governed by the user's chosen provider.
- The emerging identity market would compete on trusted authentication and user experience rather than solely on keeping credentials inside a single web service.
The trend: Web identity is moving toward portable, standards-based sign-in, with platforms such as WordPress.com acting as identity providers rather than isolated account silos.