Is there a way to require an API key in the URL / or some other way of passing the service a private key in order to grant access to the data?

I have this right now...

using System;
using System.Data.Services;
using System.Data.Services.Common;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.ServiceModel.Web;
using Numina.Framework;
using System.Web;
using System.Configuration;

[System.ServiceModel.ServiceBehavior(IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults = true)]
public class odata : DataService {


    public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config) {

        config.SetEntitySetAccessRule("*", EntitySetRights.AllRead);
        //config.SetServiceOperationAccessRule("*", ServiceOperationRights.All);
        config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion = DataServiceProtocolVersion.V2;
    }

    protected override void OnStartProcessingRequest(ProcessRequestArgs args) {

        HttpRequest Request = HttpContext.Current.Request;
        if(Request["apikey"] != ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ApiKey"])
            throw new DataServiceException("ApiKey needed");

        base.OnStartProcessingRequest(args);
    }
} 

...This works but it's not perfect because you cannot get at the metadata and discover the service through the Add Service Reference explorer. I could check if $metadata is in the url but it seems like a hack. Is there a better way?