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Ping Identity are another outfit calling their stuff "Open Source" but not using an OSI approved license. Their license *might* manage to pass OSI certification if submitted (and maybe it has been and is still in process, come to think of it) but it's not on the current list.

http://www.sourceid.org/licenses/show/3

This is yet another attempt at a SSO solution. It is not too hard to come up with a rough design for one. The main problem is getting a significant number of sites to use the same one. Otherwise, what is the use? Marketing/advocacy is needed for that.

Although I admit I have not tried it out yet, have people already forgotten about the Liberty Alliance Project? There already exists an open source implementation, SourceID. Why not contribute effort to working with that library? Or if you must have the enjoyment of writing your own implementation, why not at least try to be interoperable with an existing spec?

Incase somebody is wondering where the open-source implementation of Ping ID is hiding, it's here:
Sourceid.org

This sounds like federated identity management.

There is an open source project that looks complete and comprehensive:

https://www.sourceid.org/

Don't forget the open-source implementation of Liberty...SourceID, written by my former coworker (and sponsored by a company founded by my former boss!).

Liberty Alliance project, which so far has produced just large amount of PDF files

Which is all they intended to produce. Technically Liberty Alliance is a spec, not an implementation.

Now if you are asserting that there are no implementations, the SourceID people would probably disagree with that.

Finkployd

SourceID is a project which has two open-source implementations, one in Java and one in C#/ASP.NET (which I wrote). Also, the IPL may be under a GNU-compatible license.

Exactly. And the advantage of central identity has strengthened the power of the user communities that are monetized by Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Unless there is a successful, open means to federate identification, the small, user-driven sites will continue to be snarfed up by larger sites. The power of a concentrated user bases is a business advantage that leads to concentration of user services.

The real power of federation efforts such as the Liberty Alliance is the ability to create "local" federations. Technology that enables a community of sites to share users will do a lot to protect the independence of smaller operations, while providing them with the benefits of a larger user base.

I predict that, despite the knee-jerk objections to central identity, open implementations of Liberty such as Source ID will be extended into other languages, and rendered more accessible for the smaller sites.

- JML

This whole mess (spam, snail-mail attacks, etc etc etc) is just one more reason to salivate over the day when a legal and user-friendly online indentification system is in place (e.g. ping id or some further derivation). This will drastically reduce spam as well as making it very difficult to sign other people up for things. It will also kick start the next .com boom (as individuals and businesses worldwide will be able to easily form binding agreements instantly across the globe).

GPG isn't enough. Don't wait for passport. Get your company/family/self started on federated ID today.

There is an open source implementation of distributed login here [sourceid.org].

There is a developing open source implementation of distributed login here. There was a good article by Doc Searls about PingID and the Liberty Alliance in the December 2002 edition of Linux Journal.