OpenID and the Enterprise

Like many people, I have dozens and dozens of user accounts across a variety of applications and web properties. I have a preferred user ID of "leip", but sometimes it is already taken, or some systems require a longer id, or often require you to use an e-mail address as an ID. So I have about five different ids that I use on various systems. Of course, it isn't always easy to recall which ID I have on which systems. The problem becomes much worse when you consider passwords. Generally it is considered a bad idea to use the same password on different systems. If you use the same ID/password on n systems, you have n points of vulnerability. Of course, different systems also have different requirements; some require different lengths, some require a combination of letters and numbers, and some require that they be changed periodically. So, now you either have to have an incredible memory or do what most people do, and that is keep some sort of id/password logbook. Well, of course, that is often not done in a very secure fashion. Enter OpenID... For the uninitiated, OpenID is an open standard for single sign on and more. You pick a trusted I'd provider (there are currently hundreds) or you create your own. When you go to a website that supports OpenID (there are now thousands) you simply give them you OpenID, and that website will authenticate you via you OpenID provider.

"Brilliant!" you say... "Just what I want as a user. But why should I, as someone who operates an enterprise web presence, care?"

Well...

First OpenID is gaining momentum and more and more users are expecting web sites to support it. So it's about customer satisfaction.

Second, when you support OpenID there are fewer ids that you are maintaining on your own infrastructure if any at all. So you reduce your security worries.

Third, as I mentioned before OpenID is about more than single sign-in. The new OpenID 2.0 includes something known as OpenID Attribute Exchange 1.0. This allows users to users to have basic profile information to available when they authenticate to a site via OpenID. That means that your site can garner some important profile or preference information without hoping that a user will re-enter that sort of information just for use within your individual site.

OK. "I get it." you say. "But why should I care at this time?" Well OpenID just got an important big shot in the arm, that should suddenly accelerate the already fast growing adoption rate. Yahoo!, the world's largest provider of e-mail service, has just recently become an OpenID provider. If you have a Yahoo ID, you automatically have an OpenID. The same is true for AOL and LiveJournal. IBM, Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Verisign make up the OpenID Corporate board, so it now has some strong corporate backers too.

So you want to learn more about OpenID? Below is a very simple briefing I put together, which might be of help. You can also check out the official OpenID web site for good information.

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Grand Central and Google

I recently got around to trying out GrandCentral.   It's a service that allows calls made to one number (one given to you by GrandCentral) to ring through to multiple phones you own.   You hand out this one number to your friends, and when they call you at that number all of your phones ring (home, office, mobile,...).  You can even have different subsets of your phones ring for different callers.   If you don't answer any of your phones the caller can leave you a message via GrandCentral voice mail, which you can retrieve via your phone or via the web.   You can have different voice mail messages for different callers, and even different ring tones that the caller will hear when calling you.   (By the way, this one is my favourite.)  There are several other cool features such as the ability to switch between your phones in the middle of a call, without the other party knowing.   I personally love this feature as it is not uncommon for me to start or end a call on my mobile phone while on the road, but wish to switch to my land line when at my desk, for better fidelity or to save my mobile phone battery.   Bottom line is GrandCentral is really pretty cool with a lot of great features and I see that there is a lot of potential here.   I really wish it had support for Skype accounts, but today it will only works with a Skype-in number (which means you have to pay for the minutes, so not very attractive).    For some time I was using a somewhat similar service known as YouMail, which I have been quite happy, with, but I must admit GrandCentral has more features.    OK, so GrandCentral is a really cool service.    Is that why Google decided to buy it?    Me thinks that was not the primary reason.    Think about how much Google knows about you via your search behaviour.    (Hint:  For most people it's a LOT.)     Now hold that thought....

Google has another very cool free service known as Google 411.    It allows you to get directory information from your phone for free, by simply calling 1-800-GOOG-411  (well in the US anyway).      It's a pretty nice service primarily because it's almost as good as the phone company's 411 service but it's free.    Yes it's free but Google get value too.   Google gets to build knowledge of what businesses people are searching for from their phones, and they can even relate all of your phone searches together since they can leverage Automatic Number Identification (ANI), a feature associated with all toll-free numbers such (800-GOOG-411).   By the way, it seems few people know about ANI, and they think they are anonymous, if they disable caller ID.   ANI is a different technology, and it is not nearly so easily disabled or spoofed.   

Now back to GrandCentral.    To use GrandCentral you, of course, need to register via the web, so Google can relate you to your existing Google account or "anonymous" cookie.     You also need to give them your phone numbers.    Now Google can  supplement their online search behavior intelligence about you with your 411 telephone search behaviour.   Then of course there is various other things they learn about you from call making/receiving behaviour within Grand Central itself.     If you use all of these services (Google Search, Google 411 & GrandCentral), Google knows even much much more about you.   And, of course, Google also knows all about your YouTube viewing habits etc.

I'm not suggesting that Google is evil.    But I think people like Steve Rambam are correct when they suggest Privacy is Dead  (see earlier blog post).     Google already has a lot of intelligence about most of us.    We often sacrifice our privacy incrementally for convenience.    Most of us figure we have little to hide after all.   With Grand Central many of us will make the same trade-off again.

P.S.   If anyone wants a GrandCentral invite, let me know.  

It's getting warmer.

We have had record warm days in the New York area in the last two days. In Hawthorne, New York, where I work, it reached 17º C (62º F) yesterday (Jan. 8) This is NOT typical January weather in New York state. The previous record for that day was 14º C (57º F), and was set in 1998. This is a trend that is going to continue. This is not just an isolated even in my little part of the world. I think this is a small part of a very scary larger picture folks. I am no visionary here; scientists around the world agree that we are facing serious global warming challenges. One of the biggest challenges is to get this on peoples' minds. Yes, this is actually more important than who wins American Idol. We need to all start doing more, much more, about global warming now. Check out the Flight Global Warming web site to get some hints into things you can be doing now to make a difference, and help get the word out to your family friends and colleagues.

The loss of a friend - David Shrimpton

I just learned today that a friend, David Shrimpton, passed away on Dec 29.    David was on the faculty of the University of Kent, and was active in both the W3C and WOW organizations.   He and I collaborated to present at a couple conferences including the WWW2006 conference in Edinburgh, and the smaller Web 2.Now conference in Boston.    David was going to co-present with me at a couple of events in 2007, but had to withdraw because of his fight with cancer; a fight he was optimistic about winning, but one he was unfortunately unable to win.   David was a very energetic, dynamic and passionate educator, who had a positive impact upon many.   He will clearly be missed by many.

Emma Clarke Humour

Many of you I am sure have heard Emma Clarke speak and don't even know it.    Emma Clarke was the voice of the London Underground (aka The Tube) for the last eight years, asking passengers to "Mind the gap", and calling out station names, etc.   Just over a month ago Emma created a collection of very funny spoof Tube announcements, which she posted on the web.   In one, for example, she states: "Would passengers filling in answers on their sudukos, please accept that they're just crosswords for the unimaginative and are not in any way more impressive just because they contain numbers."   In another, one of my favourites, she says:  "We'd like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loud."      Anyway, this spoof announcements on the web, resulted in an interview by The Mail.    That interview resulted in controversy, and some unhappy people at the London Underground, who chose to fire her.      Since then Emma has been hired by a company with a greater sense of humour, ALK Technologies, where she will now be the voice of the CoPilot Live GPS navigation system.   Emma true to form has posted some great spoof navigator announcements to the web.   Here's an example....   "Pick a lane, any lane... Are you feeling lucky?"    Check them out and enjoy them when you need a quick distraction with a smile.