The .NET passport has worked, sort of, to let you wander around a few places without constantly loggin in at each site; but they never got quite the site participation they had hoped for. There have been rumors of plans to discontinue it and provide "something stronger." For now, it's sometimes a help and seems to do little harm.

In order for it to do any good, you have to log into .NET when you start to browse. The .NET login lets sites that you visit - if they're >NET participants - know that you've identified yourself as "the person who normally uses your machine." If you need to access personal information, the site should require a separate secure login in addition to your .NET credential.

Hotmail email is a prime example of a site that "doesn't understand .NET." Hotmail (usually) uses your .NET login for access to your personal email; but they often don't accept your "general login" and make you do it over, just for them, when you open your email. You should log out when you leave any "personal account," to prevent someone from "spoofing" their way into your "open" account; but if you log out at hotmail, it logs you out of all .NET functions.

Another evidence that MSN doesn't understand Microsoft. They don't play well together.

The number of sites that actually use .NET is pretty low, so it's not a big deal to log back in if you happen to go to another one that wants it, but hotmail misuses it in a way that makes it less useful to everyone else.

When you log in with .NET, the cookie you get shows a ".NET identity." It doesn't carry any significant personal identification. It just shows, when you log back in, that you are "likely to be the same person who originally got that .NET ID." If you have your .NET cookie when you go through the user registration required by some sites, the site can look for the .NET ID to confirm that you're the "same person who registered," and can let you "autologin" for routine access. The individual site should still require its own site and account specific login before connecting you to any "personal information" like billing and orders, etc.

John