links for 2006-09-30

Yahoo Opens User Authentication

Yahoo has released a new product called BBAuth just in time for its open HackDay today and tomorrow. It’s a mechanism for non-Yahoo applications to access Yahoo’s authentication mechanism and user data in a secure manner.

Techcrunch » Blog Archive » Yahoo’s BBAuth Will Allow Better Mashups

Wow. Certainly the implications are great here, but you do need to have a Yahoo account. I could imagine using this for a commercial offering, but in CALi’s world, it wouldn’t really fly. I’m not comfortable with requiring law students to use a commercial service, even one as cool as Yahoo, to authenticate to CALI offerings. On the other hand, if I’m interested in selling stuff to a mass audience, this seems like a great way top great quality authentication w/o the hassle of doing it myself.

FWIW, I’ve used Yahoo for email, news, search, etc since the mid-nineties.

Blogged with Flock