Is OpenID Being Exploited By The Big Internet Companies?

Great article at TechCrunch about OpenID. While the big players are paying lip-service, not all are actually supporting it.

I think OpenID is the key to converting potential online activists. Far more than a simple matter of convenience in terms of being able to take your login and profile information with you from place to place, properly leveraged, OpenID will mean that your persona can travel with you from site to site.

What's the difference? Information not only about who you are but also what you have done and what you are interested in can be used by networked sites. In the political world this has potential for uniting party sites with campaign sites and converting top level level interest into activism and down-ticket involvement.