OpenID Connect Proposed as an Answer to the Online Identity Problem

Identity is becoming a crucial component online and there is a definite need for a convergence of all the different identities users have set up over the years on various websites and services. Increasingly, a number of identity providers, Facebook, Twitter, Google, are becoming the de facto standard providers. At the same time, a number of technologies are trying to solve the interconnectivity problem most notably efforts like the Facebook Connect API, OpenID and recently OAuth.

At this point though, everyone is trying to do things a little differently and none of these solutions is a direct competitor or replacement to the other. Facebook Connect is getting a lot of attention and for good reason. It's a great way of enabling people to log into a website or share their data and content with various services without having to create new accounts every time or sharing their existing credentials. The obvious problem is that, being a Facebook product, the identity component is tied to the social network.

Google is taking a more open approach with Google Friend Connect, but it's not perfect either. It uses the Google account as an identity, but can also use any OpenID provider and, recently, also Twitter profiles. Chris Messina, an open source advocate involved with the OpenID project, where he is a member of the board, is now proposing a similar tool which he dubs OpenID Connect.

"I want OpenID Connect to be what Facebook and Google and others implement that becomes the interoperable identity interchange protocol for the social web," he writes. His solution is to make OpenID an OAuth WRAP Profile, bringing together the advantages that both protocols offer, to offer more than just authorization. He also believes that such a solution isn't that far away as the key components are already in place.

Finally, he summarizes his proposal for the two main audiences. "[F]or the non-tech, uninitiated audiences: OpenID Connect is a technology that lets you use an account that you already have to sign up, sign in, and bring your profile, contacts, data, and activities with you to any compatible site on the web," he writes. "[F]or techies: OpenID Connect is OpenID rewritten on top of OAuth WRAP using service discovery to advertise Portable Contacts, Activity Streams, and any other well known API endpoints, and a means to automatically bootstrap consumer registration and token issuance," he adds. At this point this is just an idea, but it seems to be getting positive feedback from key players involved both with OpenID but also with OAuth and OAuth WRAP.