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By

Robert Lemos

Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Online auctioneer eBay officially has notified customers that it will no longer allow them to log on through Microsoft’s identity management service, Passport.

As previously reported, the move is the latest blow to Passport, which had originally been marketed as a single online storage place for Internet users’ sensitive data. The authentication system has been scaled back to support only services from Microsoft and its close partners.

“As of January 24, 2005, eBay will no longer support Microsoft Passport as a means to sign in,” the online auctioneer stated in an e-mail message dated Wednesday and seen by CNET News.com.

A representative of eBay confirmed that the company had sent messages to its members and that it would stop supporting Passport authentication beginning Jan. 24.

Microsoft previously stated that the move was expected, as the software giant has slowly been paring back the Passport service. The service has had to fight security problems, plus regulatory problems and the desire of competitors to create their own system, known as the Liberty Alliance.

Microsoft made changes to its service that prompted eBay to drop support, the online auctioneer previously stated.