Re: Doing things with WebID and a Poster Child

The page referenced discusses the need to have zero config-time dependencies between social networks. A full open system must exist.

I don't see how that can be in webid powered interactions.

Assuming that the foaf cards are stored at https endpoints, with server certs issued by x, both issuer net and relying party net have to agree on x (and implicitely outlaw y issuer of server certs, much as Mozilla outlaws cacert.).

If net 1 says I accept Tunisian govt server certs authenticating the channels delivering foaf cards, but  net 2 say I specifically don't, this introduces a dependency - and a config time need for bilateral setup (on which x candidate both can accept).

Of course, both might punt to a third party (and both accept any and all server certs endorsed by that common entity, whosoever it endorses). But this merely moves the negotiation point, of which endorser both can live with. For example, I, us govt, will not cooperate with any such endorser, if it endorses Cuban server issuers. For euro folks trying to book a holiday in Cuba using a Cuban travel agent, they of course need their social net not to enforce such (policy) exclusions. They need the net to work for them when interacting with Cuban businesses (even if it doesn't work for Americans).

Summary, trust point negotiation seems unavoidable, for the server certs that underpin global webid. And it happens at config time, using policies set by the social nets (not by subscibers).

It might be tempting for w3c to mandate  : the world must use at least 1 centralized endorser (the us govt, as reflected in the dns name  registrations) But this means those parts of the web that are unwilling to accept a us monopoly probably would refuse to adopt the technology (given the nature human politics).

For us/Cuba examples above, swap lots of other examples: china/Taiwan, Russia/Ukraine, Britain and France ( :-) ).

On Apr 4, 2011, at 11:58 AM, Nathan <nathan@webr3.org> wrote:

> Kingsley Idehen wrote:
>> On 4/4/11 2:13 PM, Nathan wrote:
>>> 
>>> Of course this isn't the only project, many others on the group also have related projects and implementations, but this is just one that's very actively developed and which is really a joy to work on and participate in. So, you might enjoy :) 
>> Yes, an so are others like ODS. As I said to Melvin, ODS is basically a lonely senile great grand daddy :-)
>> For WebID to work we need to get past SWAT0, then up ante by resuming ACL demos. That's what we need right now. ODS awaits all WebID solutions that are interest in these kinds of interop endeavors.
> 
> Thanks Kingsley, I was hoping you or MacTed would reply!
> 
> Just for reference, if anybody is puzzled by the references to SWAT0 which are often made in this group, don't be :) http://federatedsocialweb.net/wiki/SWAT0
> 
> Best,
> 
> Nathan
> 
>> Live instance entry points from where you can obtain a WebID in <= 5 Mins:
>> 1. http://id.myopenlink.net/vsp/users/users.vsp
>> 2. http://id.myopenlink.net/php/users/users.php
>> 3. http://id.myopenlink.net/javascript/users/users.html
>> 4. http://id.myopenlink.net/ods -- older interface that's more for functionality demo than anything else, just follow route to "edit profile" .
>> Others:
>> A few things that you can do with ODS right now, post obtaining a WebID.
>> 1. Upload files to a Briefcase (WebDAV) then share with WebIDs individually or WebIDs that are part of a foaf:Group
>> 2. Mount Briefcase to any OS with in-built support for WebDAV -- think DropBox++
>> 3. Make Calendars and share Calendar Items or entire Calendara via WebID based ACLs
>> 4. Make AddressBooks and share AddressBook or specific entries via WebID based ACLs
>> 5. Same for Blogs, Bookmarks, Feed Manager, Photos etc..
>> 6. Use SemanticPingback for Notifications
>> 7. Much more.
>> Also note, ODS is Open Source with a plethora of interfaces based on industry standards. You only hit Virtuoso/PL (PSM-96 Persistent Stored Modules compliant SQL Stored Procedure Language) when enhancing the product kernel.
>> Links:
>> 1. http://ods.openlinksw.com/wiki/ODS/ -- ODS home page .
> 
> 
>

Received on Monday, 4 April 2011 20:01:20 UTC