---
title: 'ConfIdent people are attractive, especially when it comes to OpenID'
date: '2008-04-21T14:36:15-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 490
char_count: 3567
tokens: 637
categories:
  - Confident
  - OpenID
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Vidoop
tags:
  - Confident
  - OpenID
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Vidoop
---

# ConfIdent people are attractive, especially when it comes to OpenID

And [more OpenID news is rolling off the presses here in the Rose City](http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/confident-technologies-secures-leading-openid-providers,359949.shtml "ConfIdent partners with leading OpenID providers"). Portland-based [ConfIdent Technologies](http://confidenttechnologies.com "Confident Technologies"), the new spinoff from recent Portland-transplant [Vidoop](http://vidoop.com "Vidoop"), has announced partnership deals with [ClaimID](http://claimid.com "ClaimID"), [Clickpass](http://www.clickpass.com/ "Clickpass"), and [ooTao](http://ootao.com/ "ooTao") for its RecognitionAUTH™ technology, a patented system that does away with traditional passwords in favor of managing security credentials with images.

In related news, [Vidoop has announced](http://twitter.com/vidoop/statuses/793819918 "Vidoop integrating ID Selector") that the new [JanRain OpenID ID Selector](http://siliconflorist.com/2008/04/21/openid-id-selector-promises-to-make-openid-less-geeky/ "JanRain OpenID ID Selector") will be incorporated into the [Vidoop affiliate program](http://affiliates.vidoop.com "Vidoop affiliates").

The ConfIdent announcements are important for a number of reasons.

First, partnerships of this nature continue to introduce concepts and technologies that hold the promise of moving OpenID from the realm of “cutting-edge technology types” to “everyday Web surfer.”

Second—and perhaps more importantly—it is a major step forward in security that is both more rigorous and yet, at the same time, easier to manage for both users and adopters. With ConfIdent’s system protecting the identity of the OpenID holder, stealing OpenID identities just became a great deal more arduous—if not nearly impossible.

And third, this kind of news is just another reminder that Portland is well on its way to becoming an OpenID powerhouse—if not a full-fledged tech hub. Lest we forget that, today, as two major OpenID announcements dropped, the [Vice-Chair of the OpenID Foundation was in town for a lunch at Huber’s](http://siliconflorist.com/2008/04/18/reminder-meet-openid-developer-david-recordon/ "Meet David Recordon") with the Chair of the OpenID Foundation and a variety of other folks from the community.

That’s a lot of OpenID activity for one day.

And other Portlanders, like [Marshall Kirkpatrick](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/openid_usability_problems.php "Marshall Kirkpatrick on OpenID") (who also happens to be [the fifth most influential tech blogger around](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/20/who-are-the-top-tech-bloggers/ "Who are the top tech bloggers?")), are beginning to make note of the trend:

> Already the home of the inventor of the wiki ([Ward Cunningham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham)), the initiator of the Linux kernel ([Linus Torvalds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds)), a boatload of RSS and OpenSource-heads, Portland Oregon is also becoming a hotbed of OpenID work.

Here’s hoping that trend continues. (I’ve already done my part, by finally repairing the OpenID login for Silicon Florist comments.)

For more information on the partnership announcement, read the [ConfIdent Technologies release](http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/confident-technologies-secures-leading-openid-providers,359949.shtml "ConfIdent secures leading OpenID providers"). For more on the technology behind ConfIdent, read up on [RecognitionAUTH](http://www.confidenttechnologies.com/recognitionauth "RecognitionAUTH").