Federated vs Delegated
by Marshall Kirkpatrick
1. Facebook
2. Facebook
2.1. Centralised
2.2. One persona: your civil identity since Facebook requires real name
2.3. Compartmentalisation under that one identity is possible, but Facebook keeps oversight over all of the different contexts you use your account for
3. OpenID: only authentication, no trust. Trust depends on online reputation of url that is claimed.
4. off-site activities published to the huge Facebook ecosystem via Newsfeed
5. limited only by developer imagination
6. Open ID
6.1. slowly becoming more viable (via Google Social Graph API, OAuth, Portable Contacts, example)
6.2. security conscious but so new it's unclear how phishable eg.
6.3. option for stronger authentication
7. access to data
7.1. Facebook
7.1.1. already richly populated for many people
7.1.2. limited to what FB chooses to expose
7.1.3. single persona
7.1.4. tends towards private
7.1.5. arguably secure
7.1.6. password only protection (no strong auth)
8. existing user base
8.1. Facebook
8.1.1. huge and self aware
8.2. OpenID
8.2.1. larger, potentially, though currently unaware and disinterested
9. other
10. Trust and privacy
10.1. OpenID
10.1.1. Decentralised
10.1.2. Multiple OpenID accounts for multiple, non-linkable personas
11. aesthetics
12. possibilities limited only by imagination, politics
13. brand power
14. Facebook: proprietary
14.1. marketing power
15. decisive
16. user choice / transferable
17. OpenID
18. OpenID
18.1. Inconsistent, but improving (see Google LSO and JanRain RPX)
18.2. could be applicable to more people as it does offer more sources of identity
19. usability
19.1. Facebook
19.1.1. familiarity
19.1.2. trust
19.1.3. ease of use
20. ownership of technology
20.1. OpenID: open source & federated
20.1.1. consensus
20.1.2. broader pool of innovators
20.1.3. Unified conversations on social web (i.e. not Facebook only, Google only, etc.)
21. website deployment support
21.1. Facebook
21.1.1. Easy for Facebook
21.1.2. Requires ongoing support for multiple proprietary vendors if desired