Mashing Up withUser-Centric Identity

America Online LLCJohn Panzer, Praveen Alavilli

Web 2.0

Data Sharing Social Collaboration Perpetual Beta Incremental Evolution Web as a Platform, and Users in Control

Mashup

Wikipedia: "a website or application that combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience."

API[1] + API[2] + … +API[N]Netvibes.com, imified.com, etc…

Role of Identity

Well .. to identify the user for ….PersonalizationAuthorization / Access ControlCommunicationContent PublishingMaintaining Public Identity across Providers

But … it is also

A barrier to entryRegistration == drop offID fatigue among users

Expensive to maintain authentication infrastructure

Online Identity

Lives moving online Virtual world identity != physical world

identity Fragmentation of identity across services Limits value of services (network growth

slowed) Not necessary to bind identity and services

together

User-Centric Identity

Providing User Choice Privacy protecting Easy to adopt & use Allowing collaboration Supporting the Long Tail Applications Internet scale

Open Protocols

Community drivenOpenIDCardSpaceLiberty (SAML)

ProprietaryYahoo! BBAuthGoogle Account APIAOL OpenAuth

Challenges w/ Adoption

Platform/OS dependenciesProgramming Language SupportToo many APIs/ProtocolsComplex message formats

Challenges w/ User Experience

Sites with existing user base Same ID/Password every where Inconsistent login experience ‘deputization’ of services Redirects

Challenges w/ Permission Management

Different ways to manage user permissions (consent)

Implicit Vs Explicit Client Vs Server Distributed Consent Management Managing given Consents

Security Issues

XSS Phishing Authentication Tokens for Sites Vs Users Managing Sessions (Client side Vs Server

side) Authentication Tokens validation/invalidation

Privacy Issues

Same Identifier everywhere Public Vs Private Personas Anonymous and Randomized Identities

Reputation Services

Why Reputation ? Who owns it ? based on

Published content Activity Collaboration with other Services (Mail, IM, etc.)

Actions to take Restricted Usage limits Block/Deny requests Report to Reputation Services

next steps…

User Experience Consistency is the “Key”

User Permissions Ask User ! Implied consents are bad

Report and Consume Reputation Identity and associated data under user’s control

Support multiple public/private identities Support switching Identity Providers

Adopt protocols that support all (most) of the above

AOL Open Authentication API

http://dev.aol.com/openauthhttp://dev.aol.com/openauth

• Simple API to Authenticate AOL/AIM/ICQ Users

• Light-weight “provisioning” and easy integration/use

• Well known/understood Technologies

• HTTP/TLS/XML/JSON/…

• Permission (Consent) Management

• Secure Token exchange for ‘deputization’ of services

• Designed for AOL Open Services Consumption

• Supports Redirect, AJAX, and Direct Models

• Also …

• OpenID Provider (OP)

• OpenID Authentication Token Exchange Extension

• OpenID Consumer/Relying Party - accepts 3rd party OpenIDs

• STS for CardSpace (in the future)

Sign In Page

Permission Request Page

User Permission Management Page

https://my.screenname.aol.com

Ficlets

Q & A

Contact Info

Praveen Alavilli John Panzer=praveen.alavilli =john.panzer

http://dev.aol.comhttp://dev.aol.com