OpenID
I just added OpenID support to the blog. This means that people with OpenIDs can reply to postings without registering, and will skip comment moderation (at least until the spammers catch on). It is also possible to associate OpenIDs with registered accounts on this site.
I got my own OpenID from a site called gpgid. When I want to authenticate, gpgid site provides a random string of text, which I then have to shove into gpg like this:xclip -o | gpg --clearsign
I then paste the signature back into gpgid’s website, and they check that against the pubic key that I provided when I signed up. It may not be the most elegant method in the world, but it works, and is quite secure. There’s apparently a smoother way to do it via a firefox extention, but I don’t use firefox. Maybe if I get bored enough I’ll write an extention for epiphany.
Finally, OpenID provides a method of allowing you to use any webspace under your control for your OpenID URL. I mapped gpgid’s page into a URL on my own domain: fitzsimmons.ca/openid. Go ahead and take a look at it now - it is just a very simple HTML page that tells the “relying party” where to look. I belive this is technically the old way of doing it, but it works.
