For a decade, single sign-on has not just been part of building an app or service, it’s been a recommended development practice. I’m not saying Facebook isn’t creepy and evil, but we need to talk about how deeply coupled SSOs are across the web.
Facebook is the target now, and for good reason. But think of other major SSOs and auth federations: Twitter, Google, Amazon, and yes, Microsoft. We need to look at this whole system and start assessing how apps are able to decouple/switch auth mechanisms.
Ten years ago, I was at SXSW 2008 watching a terrible interview with Mark Zuckerberg, where he was screamed at and heckled by the audience. I goaded @technosailor to yell “Beacon sucks” — remember Beacon? These data concerns aren’t new. No one cared. web.archive.org/web/2008032410…
At that same SXSW, I talked with both @ChrisSaad and @kevinmarks about data portability and the importance of the open web and owning your own data. Terrible video is on YouTube if you search. The movement didn’t work. Services got more locked down.
A decade later, the public is outraged over something that has literally been the status quo for a decade. And good! I’m glad people are angry. But fixing this problem will take more than just deleting Facebook. That doesn’t solve this.
We need to have serious conversations about the trade offs that will occur when apps and services are forced to maintain their own logins. Do you think that means data will b safer? Do you think that means stuff won’t still be sold?
Deleting Facebook and pretending that regular people will care enough to put up with the inconvenience is not a solution and it won’t work. This is a much bigger discussion and the solutions will take time and money.
Beyond that, just because you will delete Facebook doesn’t mean most other people will. I wrote this SEVEN years ago and although the details have changed, I stand by it b/c Facebook has made it very difficult to escape its clutches. That’s the business. mashable.com/2011/09/27/you…
