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Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

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Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#11

Post by cplli »

I was initially pretty hyped when I read the abstract for DIDs, bookmarked the spec and read it later. The "spec" is a bunch of buzzwords and vague generic "concepts". The DIDs themselves mean basically nothing, it's the "methods" that actually must have their own specification and actually "do something".

Another feeling you can quickly get from DIDs is that they're blockchain centric.

The entire concept is "jack of all trades, master of none". I actually hope to be wrong, and see some more fully fledged implementations/examples of real world use-cases, because I love the idea of federated/decentralized identity.

Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#12

Post by wongarsu »

dsimmons wrote: post #2

In some ways it's surprising that it took us so long to arrive here, but very exciting that things are moving in this direction nonetheless!

That's an awesome genetic sentence that would fit right in https://xkcd.com/1022/

Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#13

Post by jceb81 »

PretzelPirate wrote: post #9
jfk13 wrote: post #7

Interesting that the announcement includes long lists of "testimonials" from W3C members and from "industry", but there are some glaring omissions. Why no endorsement from Apple, Microsoft, Google, or Mozilla? Even smaller players like Opera and Brave are missing.

It is confusing because Microsoft works on Decentralized Identity and would almost certainly have wanted to be involved with this.

Microsoft already has their own Decentralized Identity products in place. Check out https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/solutions/... They are and were also actively involved in the creation of standards and tooling, e.g. the did:ion sidetree-based DID method was created by them.

Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#14

Post by [deleted] »

cplli wrote: post #11

I was initially pretty hyped when I read the abstract for DIDs, bookmarked the spec and read it later. The "spec" is a bunch of buzzwords and vague generic "concepts". The DIDs themselves mean basically nothing, it's the "methods" that actually must have their own specification and actually "do something". Another feeling you can quickly get from DIDs is that they're blockchain centric. The entire concept is "jack of…

[deleted]

Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#15

Post by jceb81 »

t_mann wrote: post #10
m33k44 wrote: post #5

This relies on public-key cryptography? If that is the case, then who is responsible for maintaining the private key? If that responsibility is with the user, then what happens if the user loses the private key? Does the user loses the identity as well? Is there a way to recover that?

There'll surely be custodial services if this takes off.

It depends on the DID method that you're using. The DID method is kind of the identity management system for Decentralized Identifiers. Many DID methods are based on blockchains and with that there are usually no recovery mechanisms for DIDs in place - if you lose your private key the identifier can't be updated and you can't prove ownership over the identifier anymore which in turn renders associated credentials (see Verifiable Credentials https://w3c.github.io/vc-data-model/) unusable.

Custodial services are a good way out. Another option with DIDs is that you can add more than one key to DID. This way you can have one key that is stored away somewhere safe and is only used for recovery purposes.

Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#16

Post by jceb81 »

cplli wrote: post #11

I was initially pretty hyped when I read the abstract for DIDs, bookmarked the spec and read it later. The "spec" is a bunch of buzzwords and vague generic "concepts". The DIDs themselves mean basically nothing, it's the "methods" that actually must have their own specification and actually "do something". Another feeling you can quickly get from DIDs is that they're blockchain centric. The entire concept is "jack of…

Microsoft has already lined up the tech in their products. So I'm confident that it's just a matter of time before it becomes available in a shop nearby.

Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#18

Post by cplli »

jceb81 wrote: post #16
cplli wrote: post #11

I was initially pretty hyped when I read the abstract for DIDs, bookmarked the spec and read it later. The "spec" is a bunch of buzzwords and vague generic "concepts". The DIDs themselves mean basically nothing, it's the "methods" that actually must have their own specification and actually "do something". Another feeling you can quickly get from DIDs is that they're blockchain centric. The entire concept is "jack of…

Microsoft has already lined up the tech in their products. So I'm confident that it's just a matter of time before it becomes available in a shop nearby.

> lined up the tech in their products

Link? Or an explanation as to what this means?

> before it becomes available in a shop nearby

Meaning what exactly?

If you're saying Microsoft will implement DIDs, my question is, "Which of the 50+ methods?"

Re: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

#19

Post by jceb81 »

anonymousDan wrote: post #3

Can someone explain how they are actually implemented? How/where can I create a new DID?

DIDs support multiple storage mechanisms. Each storage mechanism defines how to create, read, write/update, and delete DIDs. Here's a list of the already implemented and published mechanisms: https://w3c.github.io/did-spec-registries/#did-methods. They range from no storage (e.g. did:key, you derive the DID from a public key but can't change/update anything about that DID) to stored on a webserver (e.g. did:web) to stored on a blockchain (e.g. did:ethr).

Often, a DID is created from a public/private key pair that is used to sign a transaction that's specific to the DID method. The DID then becomes publicly visible with the associated configuration, e.g. multiple key pairs associated with the DID, service endpoints that allow an interaction with the DID, etc.

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