Digital ID Wishlist: Skype name authentication service

You use your Skype name and password to login into Skype corporate web sites, like their forums, shops, and for account management.

This means Skype operates an authentication service between those applications and their central login servers. For example, Skype has a MovableType plug-in (for internal use) called skypeid-comments that lets Skype's blog commenters use their existing Skype name, without creating a new ID for the blogs.

I'd like Skype to further strengthen the authentication service, then open it up to non-Skype sites with OpenID. OpenID lets you log into a third party site using the URL provided by a trusted service. This improves privacy (you are logging into your trusted service, and they tell the third party that you are who you say you are) and is more convenient (you don't have to create/remember accounts for the the many sites you use). AOL, Google's Blogger, Japan's LiveDoor, and Yahoo! offer OpenIDs to their customers. For example, openid.aol.com/screenname is how you'd log into a site that accepts OpenID logins if you're an AOL customer.

OpenID shows having a Skype name can be valuable outside of Skypeland. Low hanging fruit?

tags: skype, identity, id, skypename, openid

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