Yahoo! Endorses OpenID Open Framework
Starting Jan 30, Yahoo users can user their name and password to access non-Yahoo Web sites that support the OpenID 2.0 digital identity framework. Already, almost 10,000 Web sites support OpenID, an open framework available for free to end users and Web site operators alike, according to the OpenID Foundation.
This is not totally straight forward for casual users. Luckily, I found the below video explaining what this is all about.
Yahoo users will be able to take advantage of OpenID in two ways, Raj Mata, Yahoo’s membership director, said in an interview. More after the jump…
The first is through the traditional OpenID authentication method: a unique URL string in the format http://me.yahoo.com that will be assigned to each Yahoo member and which they can enter into the log-in prompt in OpenID-supporting sites. That URL string will start with http://me.yahoo.com and be followed by a unique identifying word, Mata said.
On Jan. 30, Yahoo members will be able to retrieve their OpenID URL by going to the Yahoo/OpenID site. The OpenID URL will be assigned by Yahoo, but users will be able to change the unique part of the string to a word of their choice, Mata said.
The other way in which Yahoo users will be able to take advantage of OpenID is in sites that, in addition to the URL string, will also embed a conventional Yahoo log-in prompt on their site. In those cases, Yahoo users will simply need to enter their Yahoo user name and password to log in. The information will be verified on Yahoo servers and, once authenticated, Yahoo will inform the external site that the person is a Yahoo user. The external site doesn’t see any log-in information, Mata said. [Source Yahoo!]
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