Slashdot Mirror
'Open MS Passport': MyUID Goes Beta
mastergoon writes "MyUID, which has been refered to as an "open MS Passport", has opened their doors to public beta testing. MyUID is a user database system, with the purpose of allowing virtually anyone to refer to its records using only HTTP or HTTPS. Many companies have unified login systems, like Yahoo! and Microsoft, but unlike MyUID, these databases cannot be put to use by any site. As of now there is an alpha release PHP4 connectivity API, which while not feature rich is in full working order. APIs should be available in your favourite language soon. You can view this example of a site remotely connecting to MyUID using the alpha API, and give a go at spoofing a login. They want the security of the login methods tested extensively before going production."
Maybe one day this could be almost as successful as MS Passport.
Am I dead yet?
It has no reverse DNS, which will mean some people won't allow it to send them mail.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: When will the first API be done?
A: The alpha is out, check the download page.
Q: Can penguins fly?
A: No.
They have the most useless FAQ in recorded history...
The API is also decidedly undocumented.
Please come back when there's actually something to show us...
From the TOS:
MyUID may revoke your account at any time, with or without a reason. If you have a subscribed account, you will not be refunded unless there are special circumstances.
All data in your account and messages you send and receive belong to MyUID. If you are looking for private transmissions you should be using encrypted e-mails.
--------------
The problems with sites like this is you don't know behind them, you don't know what makes them tick, you don't know who has access to your data. Until they allow me to encrypt my data with my own key and not allow anyone access to it (even to themselves) they're not going to see my business.
It seems like this project is only implemented on one site called mastergoon.com, and the /. post comes from a user named "mastergoon". Hmm...
Seems like a one-person project. Very easy to declare standards without all those annoying other people!
I thought the whole problem with a centralized user system was exactly that it was a centralized user system. Doesn't matter who runs the ID server or how little information is stored on there; as soon as a centralized system exists it's the biggest, baddest target for attack out there with the highest consequences if it's broken into.
Site and software-dependent logins exist to protect us and our privacy, are we really willing to give those up so every site we use shares the login jdoe2004?
-Matt
--- Need web hosting?
From their website
MyUID is giving out three Gmail invitations to it's users. Three MyUID users will be chosen at random on Monday, June 21st at 10:00 PM PDT (GMT minus seven) to receive the invites. Good luck.
Weren't they supposed to do something similar? Sure seems to be taking them a long time.
From my initial glance I really fail to see how this is really any better or different from MS Passport, even once it's ready for release. At least MS have the clout to have Passport used on more than just their own site, which is where the value really is. I'm also not to sure about the idea of a public Alpha test of this sort of technology. Seems a bit too early in the development cycle for it to be worthwhile. Getting the site slashdotted really only resuls in load testing, and they don't seem even close to that! And lets not forget the dumb name... how many [G|U|etc|UIDs do we need?
Disclaimer: The above comment was made while under the influence of too much coding and not enough sleep.
This is a story because they have proof of concept and a basic framework. This gives them attention; right now they need people to flesh out and test the system. A story on Slashdot is a great way to attract attention.
Now whether this project is ultimately useful is debatable.
</sarcasm>
So, if I am reading the code right, it has basically no security whatsoever at this point. Wouldn't you want that in an alpha release?
You say you want a revolution....
Kudos to whoever made this, I know you must have put your heart into this. I don't mean this comment as an insult to you or your idea. But really is there a need for this? I like the idea of simplifying the web for people but Passport exists (and failed) and I believe there's a competing group with Sun in it called the Liberty Alliance that has a non-centralized model which I think sounds much safer. A centralized database has too many problems related to it to be useful.
Why would I encourage users to aggregate all their personal data with some unknown startup?
The two options already available are both (at least marginally) better. Those options being: collecting minimal personal data at my site, or using a well-known and industry-monitored company as the aggregate.
If Yahoo! or Microsoft ran off with user data, at least they'd have something to lose. The same can't be said about MyUID. They could collect data for six months then run off and sell it to illegal immigrant smugglers. Who knows? They have no reputation, no history, and nothing to lose.
And I guess it's not so bad if they just stick with UID/Password and not personal data, but I'd still sooner wait for a reputable company who chose to open the API.
Assumedly at this point the dog hasn't learned how to run script kiddie php exploits, otherwise your statement is correct.
It's a very good point: why would you? I could see you using your amazon.com account for one of their subsidiaries but a global, public identification system - regardless of data stored - just screams "hack me". What's worse: unless you're a company with big buying power (like Microsoft) you're not going to have invested in security necessary to protect those back-end servers from every HTTPD/mySQL/BIND? exploit out there meaning one lucky strike could potentially compromise every user on the system.
ouch.
-Matt
--- Need web hosting?
Think of the spam potential with this... I don't see why Gator hasn't tried this.
--
The problem with a system like this is that no matter how secure the underlying mechanism is, by making it so that any random site could possibly be using it for authentication, you have no idea who is legit & who is simply harvesting passwords.
With Passport, you know you're only dealing with big-name sites that are going to be linked from MSN.com, but here you have to wonder about the chain of trust.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
I'm concerned that it is just another centralized database of information. At least with Passport you don't have to worry about their database being bought by Microsoft.
At Identity Commons we intend to give people full control over their personal profile information, including not only who has access to which parts under what circumstances, but also where which parts of it are stored. If you don't trust any of the "banks" you can store it under your virtual mattress (if that's where you keep your server, though it might get kinda hot under there).
The free and open source code base is built upon two new OASIS XML standards, Extensible Resource Identifiers (XRI) which add (among other things) persistence and cross references to URIs, and the XRI Data Interchange (XDI) spec which enables a "dataweb", much like URIs enable a "document web". The coolest part of XDI is the concept of Link Contracts, that enable fine-grained access control over profile data while simultaneously recording the details that both parties agree to (and electronically sign) before any data exchange takes place.
While we're still a month (or more) from announcing, we have enjoyed some good initial exposure.
BTW: we're looking for people to play with the (pre-alpha) software (it's on SourceForge and there are even some CPAN modules) and help us bring it to the next level.
The antidote for misuse of freedom of speech is more freedom of speech.
-- Molly Ivins
Every website could have a root server for it's zone, registering new users' LDAP root server for authentification. They could also be third party LDAP server provider: ISP could be part of it, because they have go the login/pass associated to your connection, and they are already running LDAP servers.
I have just signed up, and my welcome message reads:
"MyUID is giving out three Gmail invitations to it's users. Three MyUID users will be chosen at random on Monday, June 21st at 10:00 PM PDT (GMT minus seven) to receive the invites. Good luck."
Why wouldnt google come up with its own 'passport' service?
This is my sig. There are thousands more, but this one is mine.
Surely you sign on to their secure server and it generates a token which can authenticate you to the third party site...
Isn't that about the only sane way to do this?
Good for spamming: http://www.myuid.com/api/usercard.php?uid=1
Where's the security?
Markus Diersbock
Real nice (if you need email addresses):
t tp://www.myuid.com/api/usercard.php?uid=13/ /www.myuid.com/api/usercard.php?uid=16w .myuid.com/api/usercard.php?uid=18u id.com/api/usercard.php?uid=21c om/api/usercard.php?uid=29a pi/usercard.php?uid=32
http://www.myuid.com/api/usercard.php?uid=12
h
http:
http://ww
http://www.my
http://www.myuid.
http://www.myuid.com/
etc
Q: Can penguins fly?
A: No.
It is exactly this cocky, pointless geek-speak tone that stops these projects from gaining wide appeal with the less technically-inclined majority (and the business community in particular).
MyUID is a good idea, but like with so many open source projects run by CompSci students, if it's communicated like this, it won't get off the ground. When will these people learn?
---- scrm
Oh great, yet another thing with the "My" prefix. It has to be my #1 pet peeve in all of computing. It seems to be some kind of conspiracy by marketing people to force us all to use baby-talk to do anything with a computer.
Part of what bothers me about this phenomenon is that the word "My" is so selfish. I think a lot of the problems we are seeing on the Internet come from this selfishness (spam, viruses). "My" is so vague and relative. Why not give "My Computer" a name so more than one person can talk about it. "My" is usually not accurate. Computers and other resources are frequently shared.
I can't even begin to understand what "MySQL" is supposed to mean.
It seems like I'm alone on this one though. Everyone acts like I'm crazy when I try to discuss this. Anyone else out there feel this way about the word "My"? Maybe we can form some type of support group.
Well it's a good thing they're asking for security issues now rather than later, as the very first form field I found had a cross-site-scripting hole in. eg.
s cript%3Ewindow.alert%28document.cookie%29%3B%3C%2F script%3E&code=boo
http://www.myuid.com/activate.php?email=fdgdfs%3C
Maybe this is unrepresentative, but to me this just screams that MyUID haven't the first idea about webapp security and have no business developing something non-trivial like a single-sign-on system.
Free clue to PHP weenies: using magic quotes does not magically make your scripts secure. Cheers then.
Part of the point behind Project Liberty, and one of the reasons that Passport hasn't worked, is that people aren't necessarily comfortable with the idea of a 'centralised' authentication system for the whole of the planet.
Passport assumes that everyone who wants centralised authentication is happy to have this information be held/known to Microsoft.
Liberty assumes that individuals are only interested in centralisation of information across closed user groups; either:
1) A single site, made up of multiple services, is interested in acting as a cohesive single whole (for example, a login that logs you in to the whole of OSDN, rather than just Slashdot), or
2) A single site is interested in sharing its identities with suppliers; for example, your corporate intranet allowing their absence management, healthcare, stock options, and other service providers to allow you to log into that corporate account using your intranet username/password.
They're completely and utterly different goals. Passport, arguably, has no value in a modern society where people know full well how these identities can be used; Liberty is a more realistic usage scenario, in a multitude of ways.
Liberty is still young; while the software is getting quite good, it's still a hassle to set up an Authentication Provider or turn your site into something that can support the liberty Service Provider API. This will change. It will work and survive solely because it doesn't need internet users, as a whole, to accept it. It works on the principle that people who have a need to unify their authentication systems, without writing crappy little APIs, can do so, in the small scale, at the level where it can actually see benefits.
-- A mind is a terrible thing.
I strongly believe that we need to reduce the number of accounts per person - our attempt at that is Mindlocked which we hope to develop further - especially in terms of distributed/replicated databases etc...
Anyone interested in joining this project (that will be released under GPL soon...) - let us know!
That's my 2 cents worth of marketing =)
Interestingly, it does say in the ToS:
MyUID will not give or sell your private account information or your password to anyone,
which seems a lie. But it goes on!
MyUID will supply any information we have about you to law enforcement officials if neccessary.
They'll rat on you even if not required by law. Yay!
In order to use MyUID, you must be a human over 13 Earth years old, living in a state where internet usage is legal.
The FAQ has two questions, one of which is 'Can penguins fly?'. I wouldn't hold my breath for this service to become very big.
Registered user #1 is mastergoon, so this is just blatent self-advertising on slashdot.
'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' II Corinthians 5:7
Our power grid is more vulnerable than you realize...