Why OAuth?

Many proprietary Web authorization protocols have emerged over the years: Google's AuthSub, AOL's OpenAuth, Yahoo's BBAuth, Upcoming API, Amazon Web Services API, etc. OAuth integrates the commonalities and adopts the best practices of these other Web authorization protocols into a single open standard.

Other reasons for using OAuth authorization:

  • Compatible with existing authorization methods
  • Flexibility to adjust to security needs of different sites
  • Extensible through different signing algorithms
  • Designed to work with mobile devices and desktop applications

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