We could do a less secure, but more-secure-than-passwords
alternative,
which is to use email or SMS as a one time password device. SMS is obviously more secure than email, but would require us to ask people for their phone numbers. We could also make a PKI
infrastructure, and
allow certificate login, which is obviously safer than passwords.
The real problem with any system stronger than passwords, is that it requires a level of complexity that would be difficult for us, and either annoying or very confusing for users.
Respectfully,
Ryan Lane
OpenID? The account my own OpenID is tied to has two-factor authentication.
As mentioned in another post, I think we should support OpenID as a provider and a consumer. It pushes the authentication problem elsewhere, but that elsewhere could be more secure that what we are providing, assuming we are providing OpenID over SSL. Unfortunately, that elsewhere may be less secure than us, but that would be the user's choice (or problem, if they don't know their provider is less secure).
Like other methods of authentication, though, providing OpenID as a consumer is confusing for end-users and difficult for us. There are a number of usability issues associated with OpenID that haven't been tackled well yet.
Respectfully,
Ryan Lane