Re: Centralization dangers of applying OpenID Connect to wallets protocols (was: Re: 2022-2026 Verifiable Data Standards Roadmap [DRAFT])

On 3/18/22 12:59 PM, Anders Rundgren wrote:
> Take Open Banking as example.  How do you select bank when they count in 
> the 100 000+ region? The Open ID foundation have solved this issue in a 
> radical way: leave it to the market to figure out.

Yep, exactly, Anders.

This sort of "Let each Relying Party decide by picking a handful of big
banks... 'cause we can't possibly fit them all on the same screen" approach is
exactly what is being proposed w/ the OpenID for Verifiable Credentials work.

"Let the each website decide among all the wallet vendors on the planet! It's
a market-driven approach!" will just turn into "Well, we can't go wrong with
Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Microsoft Wallet, let's just support those to
start" decisions being made at the Relying Party... and we all know where that
story ends -- centralization -- we have years of data showing that it leads to
centralization in social log in.

... which is why solving this problem is mandatory:

> 2. Eliminate NASCAR screens; don't allow verifiers to pick/choose which 
> wallets they accept. If you allow either of these things to happen, you 
> enable centralization.

None of the OpenID for Verifiable Credentials  specifications solve that
problem and without solving that problem, you have centralization in the
ecosystem.

-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/
Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
News: Digital Bazaar Announces New Case Studies (2021)
https://www.digitalbazaar.com/

Received on Friday, 18 March 2022 17:26:38 UTC