Thursday, July 23, 2009

Auth-napping OpenId by Weave

My first feeling was that this is a bit intrusive but then...

Here is a picture of the authnapped OpenId form:

Here is a picture of the original OpenId login:

It is the user's decision to install and use Mozilla Lab's project "weave" or not. And this solves parts of the NASCAR problem. Why should the service provider suggest some OpenId providers using the NASCAR? Well, if he has a whitelist of trusted OPs then yes.
But the OpenId-NASCAR is a cludge anyway.
I think that there should be an XRD description of which authentication methods and providers and token formats and so on a service provider supports or requires. Then a client component - read Browser extension - could help the user to make a good decision and prevent phishing attacks and more.
The user does not care whether the protocol is OpenId or Information Card or if the token format is SAML2 or what not. A unique user experience is desired. Ease of use is required. User consent is required. Security and Privacy need to be protected.

This should be "in the browser"! Secure by default. Privacy protecting by default.
I guess I don't have to repeat that I prefer the Information Card metaphor and UI. A client component is a good thing and it should be ubiquious, build-in but replacable and configurable at the user's choice.

Identification, authentication and claims/attribute transfer is not the primary service provider's interest. Those tasks should be moved outside of the website's code into an authnapping module of the user's browser.

Authnapping is good!

2 comments:

Rohan Pinto said...

exactly my thoughts when I first played with weave... So would weave be something thats accepted by all those various openid providers ??

aitn weave in a way pushing the openid providers overboard ?

Unknown said...

No, weave will not be accepted by openid providers. Yes, weave is pushing the openid providers overboard by using the weave login the user has at the weave server to replace the openid provider. This is where the card selector gives the user a better user interface to choose the IdP of his choice.