Nearly a month since my last post, but I couldn’t think of a better topic than this one. OpenID has slowly been gaining ground, rightfully so given that every site from Facebook/MySpace/Twitter/Google/etc have been pushing their unified log in systems. It’s troubling at best, given the security history of some of these sites, and the sneakiness of web code these days. Why? Well, for starters my old school ways kick in and I flat out prefer to know what site has me logged in, and as ‘who’! Some people prefer to hide online, and I certainly lurk appropriately due to my own introverted ways, but there are times where being “me” is important (namely in a professional career standpoint).
Gina Trapani from Lifehacker/Smarterware has posted a wonderful little 2-line HTML tip (via Stack Overflow) to get OpenID working on your very own domain. It’s slick, easy and leverages Google Profiles (as well as other ID proxy type sites).
I also agree with her statement about tending to her online identity. I have found myself fending off various domain & identity predators. My biggest issue was a chap, who having my same name, actually tried to apply for something using a paper I wrote (and had published briefly online some years back). Imagine my surprise when I get a follow up interview call for a job I never applied for. Hilarity ensued. Cute. Ben C’s stealin’ my identity? It’s more likely than you think!
Given that there’s lots of people out there who share the same name, this little tip can help keep your personal identity in check. It’s like I wrote the evil-Ben: it isn’t that I frown upon the sharing of a similar name, because that would be silly in a world of 6.6 billion people, it’s the fact he was impersonating my credentials for a job that concerned me much.
Even without your own domain, being aware of OpenID and how these “top level sites” leverage their own code for logging in to sites, you’ll appreciate just how crazy the web is getting.