XAuth is Evil

Google and Meebo got it so wrong! Meebo with support by Google published a javascript xauth.js that tells a website which social networks the user is a member of. Information is stored on xauth.org and in local storage what my social networks are.

This is so wrong that it hurts. Sites should publish which social networks they support and the user should then choose which ONE they would like to use at THIS site at THIS time.
The xauth scheme just transports too much data to a central site too often.

Google should use its money and power to put this ability into the browser!
Start with Chrome and Mozilla (https://mozillalabs.com/conceptseries/identity/social-agent/). Yes, Google already supports Mozilla in this project but xauth is evil.

XAuth is not even acceptable as an intermediate "solution" before Identity in the browser is ready. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I admit that website operators prefer it this way round and the collected data at the central server is definitely interesting and valuable. I think Google with good reason does not store that data on a Google server or do they? Who has access to that data? XAuth is not as bad as Microsoft Passport but not much better.
I fear that the user and privacy advocates are not strong enough to create "Identity in the browser"...

Don't do evil.

Google Chrome

A quote from Wikipedia about Google Chrome:

Plugins

Plugins such as Adobe Flash Player are typically not standardised and as such cannot be sandboxed like tabs. These often need to run at or above the security level of the browser itself. To reduce exposure to attack, plugins are run in separate processes that communicate with the renderer, itself operating at "very low privileges" in dedicated per-tab processes. Plugins will need to be modified to operate within this software architecture while following the principle of least privilege.

Chrome supports the Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI), but does not support the embedding of ActiveX controls. Also, Chrome does not have an extension system such as Mozilla-compatible *.xpi cross-platform extension architecture and thus XPI-based extensions such as AdBlock and GreaseMonkey can not be adapted to Chrome.

This means: no easy way to port the openinfocard id selector nor the browser add-on to Google Chrome.
Maybe I should take some time to revive my openinfocard plugin subproject...
Or I should start to put IDentity In the Browser and change the Chrome source code...?