Dave Winer picks up on discussions about a global identity system for weblog commenters — also being discussed by Eric Norlin and Doc Searls (actually, Doc’s posting is on a related point).
Seems to me any short-term viable global identity scheme for weblog commenters requires a volunteer to act as the “deity” for the ID’s. Userland does it already on for its weblogs — but can it/will it/why should it do so for competitive weblog products?
All of the weblog providers could enable their comment systems for Microsoft Passport, pay the annual subscription fee to Microsoft, etc. Seems like that’s a non-starter.
So, who’s actually willing to come forward as the deity to securely host the weblogger ID’s and act as the central cookie repository? How will they get compensated for doing so? Is glory good enough?
Has anybody talked to Mitch Kapor about this? Is an open identity management system part of a new open personal information manager?
In the midst of all this technology, our thoughts and prayers are with Dave’s Dad.