Via Mashable
September 30, 2008 – 3:52 pm PDT – by Doriano “Paisano” Carta
OpenID is an excellent solution for establishing a single identity for all your online accounts, but many people haven’t even tried it yet. For some, the concept of using a URL address for a login ID instead of the traditional email address is still completely foreign.
However, Email to ID could be what the doctor ordered and what these creatures of habits need. It could also be what OpenID needs in order to expedite wide-spread acceptance as the single sign on identity standard. You can now link your email address (or several of them) to your OpenID and then use that email address (any of them) to log into any online service that supports it! The beauty rests in the simplicity of it all. Best of all, it’s all free and easy to do.
First, a little background information on this process
Email to ID is based on the EAUT (Email Address to URL Translation) protocol that allows standard email addresses to be transformed into URLs for services like OpenID. As far as concerns regarding security and who controls everything, EAUT was designed to work in a distributed fashion, so that there isn’t a single authority in charge of everything. Each email service controls how email addresses at their domain are resolved into URLs.
Even though EAUT is designed to be decentralized, it will take time for email providers to add support. In these cases, a fallback service can be used which can translate ANY email address to a URL. Relying parties can use any fallback service they wish, but Email to ID is recommended. The need for a fallback service will decrease as more email providers support EAUT natively.
