The current OpenID delegation model is great.  One adds some simple discovery code to one’s homepage and poof! you have an easy to remember OpenID that remains the same even if one changes providers.  That’s all great, and I’ve been using it almost since OpenID came out.

But I think we can do even better.

When I’m at home on my own computer I like to use myopenid.com.  Among other things, it lets me sign in with a client-side TLS certificate, which is much more secure than a password.

When I’m at school in the labs, I don’t want to install a certificate there. Nor do I want to use a password by itself.  Myopenid.com no longer provides the best featureset for what I would like to do, but rather the OpenID-Jabber bridge at http://myid.asemantics.com is likely much closer.

So one solution is to add both OpenIDs to services I use, and then I can use the URL for the one I want, when I want.  The problem with this solution is (1) the abstraction is horrible, and all the benefits of delegation go away (2) not all services I use let me associate multiple OpenIDs (I’m looking at you, PostRank).

So how do we solve this?

I would love to add the delegation discovery information for both providers to my homepage.  Then, when logging in, the RP gets the list of providers I use, and presents me with a menu asking which one I prefer.  Providers not yet upgraded to have this new functionality would just keep using the first one they found, so it degrades quite gracefully.

I’m very interested to see feedback from the community on this idea.  Post comments below, or tweet @singpolyma 🙂

I am not the enemy. I only tell it like it is.

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You are the enemy.

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You are the enemy.

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You are the enemy.

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Revenge and retaliation is all that is sought.

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You are the enemy.

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You are the enemy.

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You are the enemy.

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Some people do not think for themselves.

You are the enemy.

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You are the enemy.
We are the enemy.
I am the enemy.