That link is to a very high level, non-technical overview, which is not a good link for HN. Try these links, which go into much more detail, answering the "why

That link is to a very high level, non-technical overview, which is not a good link for HN. Try these links, which go into much more detail, answering the "why bother" questions. https://developer.mozilla.org/en/BrowserID/Why_BrowserID https://developer.mozilla.org/en/BrowserID/Why_BrowserID http://identity.mozilla.com/post/7899984443/privacy-and-browserid http://identity.mozilla.com/post/7899984443/privacy-and-brow... http://lloyd.io/how-browserid-works http://lloyd.io/how-browserid-works Note that BrowserID was the old working name for the project.