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After More Than a Decade, MSN Chat Authentication Is Documented (goo.gl)
An anonymous reader writes: After MSN Chat closed in 2003, and then again in 2006, some guy has finally documented the authentication system used — over a decade later! Developer Joshua Davison writes by way of explanation:
I think it's important to document the challenge we (users, scripters, hackers) faced connecting to MSN Chat, which is the only known 'proper' implementation of IRCX v8.1 at this time.
MSN Chat introduced a GateKeeper SASL authentication protocol, which implemented 'GateKeeper' and 'GateKeeperPassport' (not dissimilar to the widely documented NTLM authentication protocol, which was also implemented as NTLM, and NTMLPassport)
The GateKeeper Security Support Provider (GKSSP) functioned in two ways; allowing a user to login with a Microsoft Account (Previously known as Microsoft Passport, .NET Passport, Microsoft Passport Network, and Windows Live ID), and also allowed guest authentication for users without, or not willing to use a Microsoft Account.
While most users didn't need or want to understand how the protocol worked, there were many of us who did, and many that just preferred to use MSN Chat outside of the browser.
Look, the new owners just took over and they can only do one thing at a time. They've already fired most of the editorial staff, turned timothy's account into a bot, and upped the number of garbage posts that make it to the front page. These things take time.
Look, seriously this isn't fucking Twitter ... stop using bloody URL shorteners ... https://goo.gl/uLqxCT
If you can't post a proper link, don't publish the damned story.
Why do we keep acting like we're supposed to trust third parties to know where we're going or to not want to monetize this fact?
Oh, wait, between this and the fact that the summary has unicode artifacts, somehow I must be assuming timothy know how to be an "editor" ... what a quaint notion.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.