Re: FYI: Blog post about Web of Identities

On Jul 13, 2009, at 12:16 PM, Toby A Inkster wrote:

> On 13 Jul 2009, at 18:31, Kaliya wrote:
>
>> The think I am confused about when you propose this is that your  
>> browser becomes a "beacon" giving away your identifier to who ever  
>> asks.  Maybe I am not understanding  how this [FOAF+SSL] works but  
>> when Kingsley explained it to me at the Sem Web conference this is  
>> what I "got"
>
>
> Your browser should pop up a dialogue box asking which certificate  
> you wish to use when you visit a website. If you hit "cancel" then  
> the web site may decide to give you anonymous access, or may decline  
> to give you access - it's their choice.
>
> However, in some browsers -- particularly if you have exactly one  
> certificate installed -- you will not be shown that dialogue box.  
> This does raise some anonymity issues, but I tend to see that as a  
> browser issue -- the problem has existed for years before FOAF+SSL  
> arrived on the scene. If people care about this issue and complain,  
> then browser developers will fix it and improve client side SSL  
> certificate selection UIs.
>
> Ultimately though, the identifiers used by FOAF+SSL are just opaque  
> URLs. The file at the other end of them can include as much or as  
> little information about you as you wish to provide. Name? Optional.  
> E-mail address? Optional. Shoe size? Yes, if you really want - it's  
> up to you!
>
> And you can choose to use different identities for different sites,  
> though of course the main motivations for most people in using  
> federated identity systems like FOAF+SSL and OpenID are to  
> consolidate their identity on the web, and avoid setting up  
> different profiles for every service they with to use.


Where are the main places where this vision is articulated on the web?
I am going to write a post about them on my blog and then engage the  
identity community about these ideas and invite more people to  
participate on this list with you.
-Kaliya




>
>
> -- 
> Toby A Inkster
> <mailto:mail@tobyinkster.co.uk>
> <http://tobyinkster.co.uk>
>

Received on Monday, 13 July 2009 19:19:30 UTC