Re: New WebID spec on identity.

On 11/19/12 3:55 PM, Melvin Carvalho wrote:
>
> I've been wondering for some time now what you gain from the 303 dance.
>
> Sorry if I've missed something, but could you go over the benefits of 
> having, say
>
> http://graph.facebook.com/dave
>
> over
>
> http://graph.facebook.com/dave#

You gain the ability to use existing URIs in the context of Linked 
Data.  You can't turn any of the URIs above into one that would be 
usable via WebID over TLS? Imagine putting one of those in the SAN slot 
of an X.509 certificate, what do you get? Nothing that could be used by 
a verifier to authenticate identity, and certainly not identity 
controlled by the referent of any of those URIs.

The power of hashless URIs lies in the ability to use to perform 
middleware magic via URIs. Any LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, 
Microsoft Live, Google+, Mozilla Persona etc.. account holder can get a 
fully fledged 5-Star Linked Data URI and a WebID, today, thanks to the 
power of URIs.

The nuance here is all about making scalable 5-Star URIs that are 
hackable [1] while also being opaque [2] . You can just tack #tag on the 
end of an existing URI and expect 5-star linked data. You have content 
format and graph structure nuances that undo such endeavors.

Links:

1. http://id.myopenlink.net/certgen -- the magic above has been there to 
be exploited for months, the WebIDs issued continue to grow
2. http://twitpic.com/5m2pp9 -- hackable URLs
3. http://twitpic.com/5m2lu5 -- opaque URI
4. http://linkeddata.uriburner.com -- an easy route to understanding how 
hashless URIs enable Linked Data middleware for non RDF data sources on 
the Web
5. http://ode.openlinksw.com -- extensions for all major browsers that 
enable you explore Linked Data (via follow-your-nose pattern) from any 
existing Web resource URI.

-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
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