18 January 2008

Yahoo! to support OpenID

Reinforcing the current trend towards greater openness across the internet, search engine Yahoo! has announced it is to support OpenID.

The internet company stated it is backing the OpenID technology for all of its 248 million registered users across the world.

A decentralised framework that aims to eliminate the need for people to have multiple usernames across different websites, it allows users to "consolidate their internet identity", according to Yahoo!.

As a result of the firm's support for OpenID, anyone with a Yahoo! ID will be able to use that ID to access any site that supports the framework.

"A Yahoo! ID is one of the most recognisable and useful accounts to have on the internet and with our support of OpenID, it will become even more powerful," stated Ash Patel, executive vice president of platforms and infrastructure at Yahoo!.

"Supporting OpenID gives our users the freedom to leverage their Yahoo! ID both on and off the Yahoo! network, reducing the number of usernames and passwords they need to remember and offering a single, trusted partner for managing their online identity," he added.

Meanwhile, Scott Kveton, chairman of the board of directors for the OpenID Foundation, described Yahoo!'s support of the initiative as a "significant validation" of the OpenID movement.

However, not everybody is convinced by the platform, with some sceptics describing it as a "dreamer's fantasy", Internetnews.com reports.

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