Posted 1:53 PM

Snoopy Sears

World +dog seems to be cock-a-hoop over the new authentication that Sears has enabled, claiming OpenID is now accepted. Well, it is, but you'll only see it if you know it's there and go looking for it. First you'll be presented with a NASCAR box showing badges for Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, AOL and MySpace. Clicking on the [more] link gets you a choice of OpenID or Windows Live. But it isn't just authentication that Sears wants.

Click on the Facebook link, for example, and you see "Allowing Signin.mysears.com access will let it pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work."

Click on the Twitter link and get: "The application Signin.mysears.com by Sears would like the ability to access and update your data on Twitter."

Do I really want Sears to know who my friends are (and how to contact them)? Do I really want Sears to be able to update my Twitter data (whatever that is)?

Decidely and emphatically, NO!

Some may think this is a step forward for OpenID, but it's not. It's a step back for privacy.

Labels: openid, privacy, rant