There are two separate things here. Using the terminology from http://lloyd.io/how-browserid-works http://lloyd.io/how-browserid-works , you have: 1. Primary I

There are two separate things here. Using the terminology from http://lloyd.io/how-browserid-works http://lloyd.io/how-browserid-works , you have: 1. Primary Identity Authority. This is a host (i.e. the one in your email address) that supports BrowserId. This is fully decentralized. 2. Implementation Provider/Secondary Identity Authority. For now the site has to choose one to trust, but once your browser has support it becomes the IP, and when your host becames a PIA there's no need for an SIA.