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Telcos Gear Up To Fight Facebook and Google Over How You Log Into Websites (mashable.com)
Mashable has an interesting article that talks about the penetration of "social authentication" services: There are two ways to log in on websites: try to recall the email address and password you registered with -- or simply hit the "Facebook Login" button. The convenience of the latter underscores the popularity of social authentication options. You'll see Facebook and Google login buttons on popular sites including Netflix, Uber, Spotify, Imgur and Linkedin, just to name some. Facebook itself estimates that some 350 million people log into a new app or site with their Facebook credentials every month. Olga Kuznetsova, Engineering Manager at Facebook told us that the Facebook Login button ranks in the top three of consumer account creation and sign-in preferences worldwide. More than 85 of the top 100 apps in the U.S. market use Facebook's Login gateway as a login, she added. For years, Google and Facebook have assumed control over the social authentication space, the article adds, citing numbers from companies and analysts. But interestingly, telecom operators are prepping to fight for a slice of the space. So-called mobile identity is one of several projects being developed in the industry to reinforce the position of network operators, which have already suffered an erosion of their traditional communications businesses by the rise of large US technology groups such as Facebook and Google, analysts say. The article adds: Mobile Connect is an authentication solution that the GSMA, the global telecoms industry trade organisation, has been working on for over three years. Through Mobile Connect, GSMA is offering users a much more convenient and "more secure" sign-in option, Jaikishan Rajaraman, global head of technology at GSMA said. The authentication service only requires users to enter their phone number when signing in. There is no password box. When a customer enters her phone number, her carrier (telecom operator, in this case) vouches for her identity. Incredibly, over 42 operators in 22 nations are on-board with Mobile Connect, and the service is already live to over 3.1 billion people. The article adds that GSMA is in talks with governments to add Mobile Connect on their websites and apps. Interestingly, banks, that have long resisted the idea of having Google's and Facebook's authentication service, are also showing interesting.
April jollies, I'm first! Gotcha!
Trump 2018!
So, this requires that there's a single user per phone number? And if you only have a landline then this equates to a per household login? And if you use your mobile number how is your ISP going to vouch for that unless they're your mobile carrier, too?
-SaNo
Because SPAM is not doing well enough in the email space, it must be moved to into SMS and RoboCalls as well!
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
or simply hit the "Facebook Login" button. The convenience of the latter underscores the popularity of social authentication options.
Sure, the same way that putting on clothes underscores being warmer, and having sex underscores feeling good.
I don't think "underscore" means what you apparently think it means.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Why are people still using Facebook?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Sure, that works for mobile (I guess). Although at that point why have the user enter their phone number at all? It is already known, presumably they can map the IP (or whatever they use), to the mobile phone number automatically. We do have a Open Standard for auth, oauth. Unfortunately it doesn't generate revenue for the various conglomerates that track your every move.
At this point Google/Facebook/one or two others have at least as much power over the internet as the actual government has over the real world and aren't bound by pesky things like the constitution or diligently-enforced antitrust regulations, and as more of the real world relocates to the internet, that power will only grow. Identification, banking, censorship, surveillance, Ministry-of-Truth-ing the news, thought-policing people and businesses via their monopoly on advertising...
Eventually "It's a private company!" stops being a good enough excuse.
Sounds to me like identd, with all the same features and flaws.
Looks like they've reinvented identd, with all the same features and flaws.
I know plenty of people who use the Facebook form of login everywhere they can.
If these things become too common sites may find it not worthwhile to maintain their traditional login process any more, leaving those of us without Facebook out of the picture.
That is always the way these things go: first the stupidity is optional, then it is entrenched, then it is unavoidable.
We already have this or a similar technology in use in Finland. It requires to get a special sim card and then you can log in to government sites by entering your phone number. Just used it today to log in to a site where I see my medical records and drug prescriptions. It's not limited to government sites, but not really main stream yet I think, there are some accounting SaaS sites etc. that also use it.
if you want people in your life it's a good way to do it, especially if you're an extroverted nerd. Yeah, they exists (and they're among the most unfortunate folks in a modern world). There's tons of D&D, Warhammer, Overwatch and general gaming/meetup forums built around them.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
that power will only grow. Identification, banking, censorship, surveillance, Ministry-of-Truth-ing the news, thought-policing people and businesses via their monopoly on advertising...
You are correct. That is the path we are on.
You want to know what's really scary? It appears to be what most people want.
If you can remember a phone number you can probably remember a password between 8 and 16 characters without issue.
It sounds good, but it doesn't scale. To be secure you need high entropy passwords, which are exactly the kind that's hard for humans to remember. Then you might remember a few, but people tend to have dozens of sites they log into, and there's no way people are going to remember that many high entropy passwords.
So either they'll use the same one everywhere, which is really bad, or maybe they'll append a small sequence to each one for that site, which is not much better.
It isn't about security. It's about tying together your surfing on disparate web sites into one big automated database to sell you targetted advertising.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
they have more power than the Government but don't tell Donald that. He won't like it.
He thinks that 'He rules the world'. When in fact, Google and Facebook do.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
Correct horse battery staple.
xD
Correct horse battery staple.
I'm a huge fan of Randall and all, but it's insufficient entropy, and also you'd need to memorize one per site.
Those are some of the most common dictionary words in the english language. Combining 4 of them is probably roughly on par with a 7 character random password composed of letters and numbers. It's probably OK for things you don't care much about...
Telco Support here. How may I help you?
I cannot login.
That's fine sire, we'll send someone over right away.
When?
In the next 2 to 7 days, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern.
Will that be all?
Yes. ;=(
"Gearing up"? You mean using Congress to sabotage your competitors' product? Because that's what's really going on.
Everyone on this planet is born with a valuable piece of intellectual property: an identity. Defend it--you own the copyright! Stop calling it "privacy". It's not about privacy.
And i do use Google tools to save passwords/usernames.
I maybe shouldn't trust Google, but I know i should not trust Facebook.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
keepass..
I only have a tin can on the end of a string in my house. How's that supposed to work?
When Facebook and other ilk like it appeared, I had a gut feeling to not join. No specific reason. But this thread has nailed the big reason why I never signed up:
Because I don't want to stay shallowly connected to the masses of humanity or my family!
Thank you.
Or pick , door #3.
In India, government has brought in UIDAI, which cover now 1 billion people for authentication, which forms a basis for providing govt benefits, payments and what not to individuals who are even on feature phones. Worth checking for those interested.