[fcjqbuvjxpxml]

Hence solving the problem of associating a random set of symbols (representing an openid) with a real person by the much simpler problem of associating a random set of symbols (representing a public key) with a real person.

[biohacker42]

Ah yes, but you've tremendously reduced the problem.

With PGP you can verify all online posting, so you reduce the problem to a singular instance: public key vs real person.

That is a huge improvement.

[sdfx]

At least public key certification was designed and is used for this for quite some time. It works reasonably well for email and there is an infrastructure to manage and validate the public keys. With openID you'd have to start from scratch.

[yters]

What an ironic comment.