I am pretty put off by Bitminter requesting Open ID to sign on.
It is provided by Google, Microsoft &  co.
These IDs set flash cookies, regular cookies etc on your machine, and then track where you go online "for marketing purposes". What NSA does with the info is anybody's guess.

I know this sounds paranoid, but it's a matter of principle.

Any comments on this?

Can anybody recommend an alternative mining pool for newbies?