Now this is what online identity looks like – FreeYourID.com

Interesting bit of news today from TechCrunch, there’s a new service called FreeYourID.com which appears to be part domain registrar, part hosting service. They provide you with a domain name, email, web hosting, and even OpenID integration–the true pieces of an online identity. These guys GET it. From the site:

Welcome to the service that is likely to do as much for your identity online as your birth certificate has done "offline".

Right on, preach it! This is almost EXACTLY what I had in mind with my post on personal servers, describing a service I want to start called "atmy.name". I also noticed they integrate with OpenID. I’m still not a big fan of OpenID, but if ever there was a perfect use for it, it’s here. I still think it’s too cumbersome to ever get mainstream acceptance, but we’ll see, something like this could actually give it legs.

Now, I’m not sure how viable this is as a paid business, I just don’t think the average person cares enough about this–yet–to pay for their own domain name. I’m more inclined to provide this as a free service that sits on top of OPTIONAL paid hosting and services. Even though I’m not too sure about their business model, I think the concept nails it, I’m glad to see more people thinking in this direction.

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http://blog.gnr.com Hakon

Hi Jason, thanks for your article,

just an additional note on the early days of openID acceptance- you don't only get the domain and its openID associate with freeyourid.com, you also get the personalized email address on .name e.g. [email protected].

I firmly believe OpenID will grow to become understandable and effective for the mass market, but for now, the .name email can be a very attractive starting point for those not ready to embrace OpenID, or for non-bloggers who don't have a domain or don't really manage any blog or web site (even though we provide pageflakes for a very slick and easy starting point).

The .name email address definitely passes the "Do-my-parents-get-it-test" for being memorable, personal and lifelong.

We plan on bundling in more URL based services e.g. on the domain's subdomains, like storage, personalized RSS feed, etc. Any ideas from the blogosphere would be very welcome.

We're also shortly going to provide a "mashup" API to let others associate .name addresses (domains/emails) with their own services.

Thanks for your great article and interest in .name,

Hakon
Global Name Registry (www.nic.name)
Yannis

This is cool. Your id, personal lifelong email and website in one place.

One thing that worries me is the email address for life. Perhaps I don't want email for life. I've got a web email account I opened about 9 years ago and it's still my primary email account. However, because I've used it all over the place over the years, it's accumulating so much spam, I've actually considered ditching it for a new one. However, if my freeyourid email address (that forwards emails to my current email address) starts receiving loads of spam, then my lifelong email address is suddenly not worth all that much. And if on the other hand I do want a lifelong email address, it's easy enough to get; Google, or Yahoo, or Hotmail aren't going anywhere.

So not so sure about the email bit, but overall looks like an exciting service, and amazingly cheap too. Definitely a step forward.

Oh, and I was disappointed I couldn't use my brand new OpenId in order to leave this comment…
http://rants.ekanem.de Otu Ekanem

As a business model, I 'd definitely agree with you Jason. This hardly has any legs at all for this reason:

Anyone who cares enough about identity management …

1) ..will already know about the many free openid servers out there http://myopenid.com http://prooveme.com

2) ..either has a domain name or knows how to register one themselves.

The combined action takes 10 – 15mins max.

They 'd be better off charging a one off fee and sending reminders when your domain name is due to be renewed than trying to charge a recurring fee.

The *.name tld is not at all new and if people didn't run out to register it at the time, I don't see why they will clamour for it now.

my £0.02p => $0.04c