ebay's recent announcement to no longer offer Microsoft's Passport services appears to have sent Microsoft over the edge. Microsoft has announced it will no longer push the Passport service to third party companies. The Passport system aimed to create one central system with credit card information which users could use on any site using the passport service, erasing the need for multiple user names and passcodes. Privacy groups and antitrust regulators did not like the idea of one central login, and in 2003 security experts unearthed a flaw that could have allowed scam artists to hijack older Passport accounts. Passport will continue to be the sign-on service for various Microsoft properties, including the Hotmail e-mail service and MSN.com.

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