Web 2.0 users need usable mechanisms for sharing their content with each other in a controlled manner across boundaries of content-hosting or application-service providers (CSPs). In this presentation, we describe the architecture, design, and implementation of a proposed system for Web 2.0 content sharing across CSPs. The system is built upon the existing secret-link mechanism and augments OpenID identity providers with both an OpenIDemail extension and a role-based trust-management policy service (RTPS). OpenIDemail extends the existing OpenID protocol to enable OpenID identity providers to use email as an alternative identifier. RTPS provides services for internet users to organize their online credentials and polices, and for CSPs to make access decisions. To evaluate our approach, we implemented a system named OpenRT in J2EE. OpenRT does not require the end user to setup an account on each CSP to view shared content and does not require the user to install any special software. The mechanisms for content hosting and sharing are separated; CSPs do not need to change their existing access-control mechanisms.
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