What's Going On Here?
With OpenProfile, you can use a single login and password to create an account, log in, and provide user profile information to any site that supports OpenProfile.
OpenProfile is a software module, written in the Ruby On Rails application framework, that builds on the OpenID distributed identity system.
OpenID lets your use a single URL as your "ID card" for any site that uses the OpenID system. What's more, by adding a couple of lines to the <HEAD> section of any web page, you can use the URL of that page as your identity card! You can register for a free OpenID URL at MyOpenID.com, at Videntity.org, and probably at other places around the web.
With your OpenID, you can set up and edit your OpenProfile on this site. Your profile includes your name, email address, web site, a witty saying of your choice, and a photo or other image. Only the name is required. You can also provide a one-word "profile reference".
After you've done this, you can give an OpenProfile URL as your OpenID URL! It will work with any site that supports the OpenID system.
But wait! There's more! A site using OpenProfile (or any other site capable of interpreting hcards) can automatically retrieve your name, email address, etc. from your OpenProfile URL! No more typing in user name, email address, password, confirmation password, and all that.
For example, suppose you log in to the OpenProfile system with an OpenID URL like "janet.jones.myopenid.com". At the edit screen, you can fill in your name, email, etc. OR you can upload a vCard. vCards can be produced by many email and address-book applications, or generated free on the web (here, for example). You can also upload a small image of yourself (or your dog, if you'd rather).
At the end of the "Edit" form, there's a field called "Profile Reference". This is a single word -- any word will do, as long as someone else hasn't used it. It should be something easy to remember, for example "majorbabe".
Now you can give "www.openprofile.net/profile/majorbabe" as an OpenID "ID card". And if the site you give it to supports OpenProfile, all your registration information will be there automatically!
But what about security? OpenProfile only gives out the kinds of information you provide whenever you "register" at a web site. It provides your name, email address, web URL, and a short quote, along with a picture if available -- the kind of information that can be viewed by members of any web forum.