Web-Design web-design Google, Twitter and Facebook.: OAuth - Bridge between functionality and privacy

Sunday, February 27, 2011

OAuth - Bridge between functionality and privacy

Imagine someone telling you they've created an itinerary mapping application that you can use to plan your vacation and it utilises your google calendar to help with which dates you need to be where, however in order to use it you need to handover your google username and password? No!

In a time where everything is personal but still privacy is high on the chain of command (Twitter doesnt allow you to private message someone that isnt following you and Facebook doesnt allow you to write on walls of people that you aren't friends with) there exists a door between convenience for a user to gain functionality and maintaining security.

This door is called OAuth.



Blogger, Calendar, Contacts, Gmail, Spreadsheets and Maps are services provided by google that you can gain direct access to and customise the information readily available there toward supporting another objective without any threat to user's privacy and without requesting any personal login details from the user/subscriber.

Whether you're new to programming or you are an expert, understanding OAuth takes some reading, like any other service that is worth using. I strongly suggest this playground

There's alot to know about it, but basically it follows a process: Get Request Token >> Authorize Token >> Get Authorize Token.

In my own research I came across a few key web resources including the google's OAuth API and Andy's Blog about oAuth


Cheers.
 

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