Such an enormous user base would put intense pressure on all Web vendors to use the system. Richard Purcell, Microsoft's director of corporate privacy, argues that a centralized system is less risky than distributed information. He has got a point. With thousands of distributed consumer databases throughout the country, it's impossible to know who has what data about you, which sites have security vulnerabilities, and if any of your information has been illegally accessed. But even Microsoft can't guarantee total security.
Hackers have their ways, and they can be diabolically ingenious.
The more valuable the information, the harder people will try to break in and get it. Spolsky, a former Microsoft employee, wrote about the dark side of Passport eight months ago in an article on his Web site . Fact is, Microsoft doesn't have a great record with keeping hackers out. Imagine if you couldn't access or buy anything online because a Microsoft server that needed to authenticate your identity was overloaded. And last October, Microsoft revealed that for several weeks, hackers had access to company servers that held precious source code.