Lately, there seems to be a lot of talks about OpenID / OAuth, privacy, owning information, decentralizing, centralizing, user-centric, SSL, profiling, identity, and other stuff ? (for a lack of a better term.)

I know it is some way relevant to me, since I see the logo everywhere I go. And I have an inkling OpenID is somehow important, since I am hearing about it a lot. And uhhh there was even a summit for OpenID and OAuth.

Well. I don’t know about you, but to me? OpenID is nothing but a bunch of gibberish.

1. Too much effort.
   I am so used to logging in with a username and or handle, the concept of using a URL is ludicrous. A six letter username is already too much effort, to add mywebsite dot domain dot com each and every single time I need to log-in is blasphemy. Oh, nevermind password managing programs I use, ok? Thanks.
2. Too confusing.
   Flickr, WordPress, Technorati, Yahoo, Blogger, LiveDoor, LiveJournal, blah blah blah – the OpenID provider list goes on and on. I am signed up for and use almost all OpenID service providers. Meaning, I already own an OpenID. Several, even, but how do I claim them? And what is this claim they speak of? Why can’t I just log into a site that supports OpenID with my respective URLs? Where and how do I start? WHY can’t this be more simple? See? The questions start and maybe I am an idiot, but for the life of me, I can not figure out how to get started.
3. Why is this relevant to me?
   I am not going to lie. I log into almost all my accounts on unsecure Internet connections. Identity theft is irrelevant to me, since my identity has never been stolen. I am the last person to be anal about privacy. Call me naive, but in my sheltered world, confidential information is viewed via proprietary services (corporate server, apps, etc.) anyway, and I trust my system administrators. In my 10 years of working in corporations large and small, my sys admins have protected any security leaks. All I know (choose to know?) is when making, receiving, or transferring any financial transactions, I check the URL to make sure it reads: “https”. WHY should I care?

I know in theory, OpenID is a good idea. But really, why does owning my information pertain to me? How is this relevant to my daily usage? After all, it’s not like merchants (Ebay, Paypal, financial institutions, etc.) are partnered with OpenID. So unless OpenID becomes more intuitive, or there’s a reallllly good motivating factor for me to actually figure that crap out? I am sticking with dedicated usernames and passwords.

Do you know something I don’t know? If so, do please enlighten me.

Awesome discussion as well here. :)