Re: Renaming "DID registry" to "DID ledger" (was: Re: New iteration of the DID Use Cases document)

-1

- I think, DIDs should allow no-registry (no-ledger) methods . This would be _true_ decentralization. 
You've created DID, shared it with your friends, they have it and keep local provenance history for it - that's enough for you and your friends, no registries(ledgers) involved. This will still be DID and you kind of "registered" DID with your friends, so you would still need "register" and "registry" words around (e.g. "local DID registry", "global DID registry").

- "Ledger" is a rare, hard word.  Another hurdle for understanding, that require additional explanation for uninitiated in blockchain subject. Let's simplify not complicate.  For example, moving from  Decentralized Identity to Decentralized Identifier  was very good. Simple change, that brought a lot of clarity (now you do not have to discuss "What is identity?").  Let's continue in the same direction. No need to add another word that needs explanation.  

Depending on the context and audience one can interchangeably use  registry/ledger/"decentralized registry", but in spec "registry" IMO is the most correct (general enough and simple enough) term.

Bohdan  

 ---- On Tue, 19 Feb 2019 06:54:22 +0200 Markus Sabadello <markus@danubetech.com> wrote ---- 
 >            Also -1 I think, "ledger" won't work for IPFS-based DIDs, or       public-keys-wrapped-as-DIDs, or potentially many other DID       methods; it doesn't feel broad enough.
 >      Personally I also don't like the separation between "creating"       and "writing" / "registering" a DID. This separation is something       I have seen in Sovrin docs and discussions several times, but I       think it's better to have a mental model where you have only one       step for "creating" the DID. E.g. in Sovrin, you may create a       wallet and a key pair as a preparatory step, but you haven't       actually "created" your DID until you also write it to the ledger,       because only then it becomes possible to "resolve" it.
 >      Markus
 >      
 >      On 2/19/19 12:39 AM, =Drummond Reed       wrote:
 >                
 >                                             On Mon, Feb 18, 2019 at 3:30             PM Kim Hamilton Duffy <kim@learningmachine.com>             wrote:
 >                                    > So I                 strongly believe that the sooner we fix this naming                 issue, the sooner we stop sending the wrong message to                 potential adopters about how DIDs actually work.
 >                
 >                I definitely agree sooner is better...if people are                 down for this exercise right now, I'm not stopping                 anyone                                   
 >                       Cool. All in favor of moving from "DID registry" to "DID             ledger", please +1.           
 >                       If you strongly feel you have a better alternative,             please advance that.                       
 >                             On Mon, Feb 18, 2019 at                 3:26 PM =Drummond Reed <drummond.reed@evernym.com>                 wrote:
 >                                                                                                                                                                                                Kim, while I agree that it                               would be good to avoid a naming exercise                               right now, in fact a term was recently                               suggested to me that IMHO would be                               infinitely better than "DID registry". It                               is simply "DID ledger".                                
 >                                                               Note that the term "DID ledger" does                                 not say "distributed ledger" or                                 "blockchain" or anything that would                                 imply that DID technology could only be                                 written to one of those types of                                 systems. In fact, "DID ledger" doesn't                                 even mean that the ledger                                 is decentralized.                               
 >                                                               What "DID ledger" DOES capture                                 however is the idea that the DID                                 controller writes the DID to the                                 ledger. In all cases with DIDs, that's                                 what happens (whether the DID is                                 actually initially created entirely                                 independent of the ledger, as                                 with Sovrin DIDs, or it is created via                                 the write transaction to the ledger, as                                 with BTCR DIDs).                               
 >                                                               And that of course is exactly the                                 OPPOSITE of what happens with                                 "registries". The essence of the problem                                 with the word "registry" is that it is                                 always the registry that controls the                                 rights to the identifier, not the                                 registrant.                               
 >                                                               So I strongly believe that the sooner                                 we fix this naming issue, the sooner we                                 stop sending the wrong message to                                 potential adopters about how DIDs                                 actually work.                               
 >                                                               =D                                                                                                                                                                   
 >                                         On Mon, Feb 18,                       2019 at 2:58 PM Kim Hamilton Duffy <kim@learningmachine.com>                       wrote:
 >                                                                  I'm not sure we'll get a better                         candidate in the near future, but ditto on the                         problems caused by the use of the term "DID                         registry".                          
 >                                                   In fact, after my presentation at W3C                           Strong Authentication and Identity Workshop, I                           decided not to use that term unless I have                           ample time to qualify/caveat what it means.                          
 >                                                   At minimum, if we just mark it (perhaps                           create an issue) to revisit, that would                           probably be fine. Not sure we're in the mood                           for a naming exercise at the moment.                         
 >                                                   But also +1 to the improvements in this use                           case document. Great job Joe!                                              
 >                                                 On Sat, Feb                           16, 2019 at 8:37 PM =Drummond Reed <drummond.reed@evernym.com>                           wrote:
 >                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              On Thu, Feb 14,                                             2019 at 8:01 AM Joe Andrieu                                             <joe@legreq.com>                                             wrote:
 >                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Folks,
 >                                                                                                   
 >                                                                                                   Based                                                   on the feedback from                                                   the call Tuesday, I                                                   have updated the DID                                                   Use Cases document.
 >                                                                                                   
 >                                                                                                   https://w3c-ccg.github.io/did-use-cases/
 >                                                                                                   
 >                                                                                                   Please                                                   take a look and                                                   provide feedback.                                                   Please use the mailing                                                   list for general                                                   discussion and Github                                                   issues for specific                                                   places where the  spec                                                   text could use                                                   improvement. Pull                                                   requests appreciated                                                   if you have                                                   suggestions for                                                   improvements.
 >                                                                                                                                                                                           
 >                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Joe, this is a big                                               improvement. Thanks for                                               doing this. I have some                                               wording suggestions                                               but unfortunately will                                               probably not have time                                               until RWOT to submit them,                                               and they are minor anyway.                                             
 >                                                                                           One terminology                                               question, however: this is                                               the first doc I've seen                                               using the term "DID                                               registry". While I get why                                               that term seems                                               attractive—it's the best                                               analogy to the existing                                               world of registries                                               (especially DNS                                               registries), I have                                               avoided it all this time                                               because the process of                                               writing a DID to what the                                               spec used to call a                                               "target system" is SO                                               different than                                               conventional registries                                               which ALWAYS involve                                               centralization. This is                                               true for every single                                               target system I'm aware                                               of. That's the whole point                                               of decentralized                                               systems—they don't involve                                               the same power dynamics as                                               centralized registries.                                             
 >                                                                                           So I'm just wondering                                               if the term "DID                                               registries" has become                                               established or if we can                                               use a better term that                                               reflects the unique nature                                               of DIDs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
 >                                                                                                   The                                                   key difference in this                                                   iteration is the                                                   addition of an                                                   extended discussion of                                                   what you can do with a                                                   DID and the 13 DID                                                   actions I've distilled                                                   from our conversations                                                   over the last couple                                                   of years. Hopefully                                                   this addition helps                                                   both with the big                                                   picture and gives                                                   concrete                                                   functionality.
 >                                                                                                   
 >                                                                                                   Note                                                   that not all DID                                                   Actions are supported                                                   by all methods and not                                                   all will be specified                                                   in the DID spec.                                                   However, these actions                                                   have informed the                                                   design of DIDs and                                                   hence represent the                                                   aspirations of the                                                   eventual system based                                                   on DIDs.                                                                                                                                         
 >                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Agreed. I like the                                               section on DID Actions                                               very much, though I do                                               have a few suggestions to                                               clarify some of them. I'll                                               see if I can get that to                                               you before RWOT.                                             
 >                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         -- 
 >                                                                            Kim Hamilton Duffy                           CTO & Principal Architect Learning                             Machine                           Co-chair W3C Credentials Community Group                                                        kim@learningmachine.com
 >                              
 >                                                                                                                                                                              -- 
 >                                              Kim Hamilton Duffy                 CTO & Principal Architect Learning Machine                 Co-chair W3C Credentials Community Group                                    kim@learningmachine.com
 >                    
 >                                                                              

Received on Tuesday, 19 February 2019 09:55:28 UTC