Add use-case for decentralized identity #6082

emmanuel-awosika · 2022-04-21T11:17:47Z

I suggest adding a page for decentralized identity to the use-cases section. Ethereum is playing a key role in decentralized identity and self-sovereign identity (SSI) through projects like Proof of Humanity. I think it'll be a great resource, both for developers and anyone learning about the applications of Ethereum.

Description

The page explains decentralized identity in detail and the flaws of current identity management. It also highlights the building blocks of decentralized identity frameworks and the applications of Ethereum-based ID management.

Preview deploy:
https://ethereumorgwebsitedev01-emmanuelawosikaethereumor23827.gtsb.io/en/decentralized-identity/

I suggest adding a page for decentralized identity to the use-cases section. Ethereum is playing a key role in decentralized identity and self-sovereign identity (SSI) through projects like Proof of Humanity. I think it'll be a great resource, both for developers and anyone learning about the applications of Ethereum.

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wackerow · 2022-05-16T18:31:31Z

Hey @emmanuel-awosika, thanks for suggesting this and putting it together! Sorry it took some time to get back to this. I agree this is a topic worth having a page for, and I think using the use-case template will be fine here, but I wanna discuss the content/layout first.

I think it would first be helpful to lay the foundation with an explainer of what identity is, or more importantly, the subtle differences between "identity", "identifiers", and "attestations" (and also to a lesser extent, "roles").

These terms are often used interchangeably, but have distinct differences that help to understand the concepts surrounding identity, both in the existing identity systems as well as in decentralized identity systems. I think distinguishing the difference here is important, and could really help better frame the remainder of the content.

(Great video explainer by Andreas Antonopolous: Decentralized Identity - Bonus Livestream Session)

High level descriptions/examples:

"Identity" is the "I" in "I think, therefore I am." It is you as a human entity, your own existence.
"Identifiers" are things that help identify which identity is being referred to, such as a name, email, tax ID number, Facebook or Twitter account name. These are not your identity, but identifiers. A drivers license is also not an identity, but contains multiple identifiers on it, such as name and date of birth.
"Attestations" are statements made by someone (sometimes an authority) that an identifier has certain rights/privileges, licensure, or particular attribute, i.e. Your drivers license is an attestation that you're competent enough and licensed to drive a motor vehicle attested to your name and DOB identifiers by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
"Roles" are implied by the attestation, such as "motor vehicle driver" in the above example. Roles are less misunderstood, but just noting these are not the same as your identity.

I generally like the header structure here, going through the what, why, how, then use cases, but to the above points I think we need to work on the introduction content first, and then go back through and make sure the terms are being used as accurately as possible.

I see what you did with the header structure here (what/why/how/uses) is a good start, but I think we could improve the overall story-telling skeleton of this page by reconsidering these h2s. Some thoughts I had for how we could structure this:

What are identity, identifiers and attestations?

Explain difference between these, mentioning examples from existing systems that most people will understand.
Emphasis the point about how third-parties issue, hold and control your identifiers in the existing identity systems. This is one of the key differentiators compared to decentralized identity systems to be discussed next.

What are decentralized identifiers?

Now that identifiers have been explained, we can build off that to explain that a decentralized identifier is one that is issued, held and controlled by you. An easy example is an Ethereum wallet.

What makes this possible?

Discuss dependence on PKI, and nobody cared to protect private keys until cryptocurrency came around. Now we've seen the world's largest civilian deployment of public key infrastructure, and people are learning how to secure them properly because they protect money. Now that people are learning how to protect private keys to protect their money, a byproduct of that is those same keys can also be used to securely protect their own identifiers.
Also, we can discuss smart contracts here, along with decentralized data stores, and the W3C efforts.

After these I agree with a section about how DIDs are being used in the industry so far, and areas where these concepts could offer potential in the future.

tl;dr on my thoughts: Great start! Let's try to do an "explain it like I'm 5" intro where we explain some fundamentals that help in understanding identity in general. We can then extend this to tell the story of how decentralized identifiers are different (focusing on sovereignty over ability to issue/hold/control your own identifiers without a central registry), why this is possible now, what already exists and where we're heading.

cc: @minimalsm

emmanuel-awosika · 2022-05-17T10:32:07Z

Thanks for the detailed feedback, @wackerow! It'll take some time to rework the content, but I should be able to get an updated version across to you soon.

Reworked the proposed page to incorporate feedback on structure and use of terms related to decentralized identity.

emmanuel-awosika · 2022-05-23T09:49:41Z

Hey @emmanuel-awosika, thanks for suggesting this and putting it together! Sorry it took some time to get back to this. I agree this is a topic worth having a page for, and I think using the use-case template will be fine here, but I wanna discuss the content/layout first.

I think it would first be helpful to lay the foundation with an explainer of what identity is, or more importantly, the subtle differences between "identity", "identifiers", and "attestations" (and also to a lesser extent, "roles").

These terms are often used interchangeably, but have distinct differences that help to understand the concepts surrounding identity, both in the existing identity systems as well as in decentralized identity systems. I think distinguishing the difference here is important, and could really help better frame the remainder of the content.

(Great video explainer by Andreas Antonopolous: Decentralized Identity - Bonus Livestream Session)

High level descriptions/examples:

"Identity" is the "I" in "I think, therefore I am." It is you as a human entity, your own existence.

"Identifiers" are things that help identify which identity is being referred to, such as a name, email, tax ID number, Facebook or Twitter account name. These are not your identity, but identifiers. A drivers license is also not an identity, but contains multiple identifiers on it, such as name and date of birth.

"Attestations" are statements made by someone (sometimes an authority) that an identifier has certain rights/privileges, licensure, or particular attribute, i.e. Your drivers license is an attestation that you're competent enough and licensed to drive a motor vehicle attested to your name and DOB identifiers by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

"Roles" are implied by the attestation, such as "motor vehicle driver" in the above example. Roles are less misunderstood, but just noting these are not the same as your identity.

I generally like the header structure here, going through the what, why, how, then use cases, but to the above points I think we need to work on the introduction content first, and then go back through and make sure the terms are being used as accurately as possible.

I see what you did with the header structure here (what/why/how/uses) is a good start, but I think we could improve the overall story-telling skeleton of this page by reconsidering these h2s. Some thoughts I had for how we could structure this:

What are identity, identifiers and attestations?

Explain difference between these, mentioning examples from existing systems that most people will understand.
Emphasis the point about how third-parties issue, hold and control your identifiers in the existing identity systems. This is one of the key differentiators compared to decentralized identity systems to be discussed next.

What are decentralized identifiers?

Now that identifiers have been explained, we can build off that to explain that a decentralized identifier is one that is issued, held and controlled by you. An easy example is an Ethereum wallet.

What makes this possible?

Discuss dependence on PKI, and nobody cared to protect private keys until cryptocurrency came around. Now we've seen the world's largest civilian deployment of public key infrastructure, and people are learning how to secure them properly because they protect money. Now that people are learning how to protect private keys to protect their money, a byproduct of that is those same keys can also be used to securely protect their own identifiers.
Also, we can discuss smart contracts here, along with decentralized data stores, and the W3C efforts.

After these I agree with a section about how DIDs are being used in the industry so far, and areas where these concepts could offer potential in the future.

tl;dr on my thoughts: Great start! Let's try to do an "explain it like I'm 5" intro where we explain some fundamentals that help in understanding identity in general. We can then extend this to tell the story of how decentralized identifiers are different (focusing on sovereignty over ability to issue/hold/control your own identifiers without a central registry), why this is possible now, what already exists and where we're heading.

cc: @minimalsm

Hi @wackerow. I just pushed a new commit to incorporate your suggestions into the document. The new document looks very different from the original (owing to extensive research), but I'm happy to hear your thoughts on it.

wackerow

Hey @emmanuel-awosika! Like the updates so far overall... don't have time to finish this all right now, but reviewed the first section again and left some suggestions.

Also, some structural cleanup... We'll need to adjust the header levels a bit since we don't need to include an h1 header (#). The title frontmatter property will render as an h1 and should be the only one on the page.

I would increase the header level of everything up through "What are attestations" by one for this reason. ie:
# What are .... -> ## What are ....
## What is identity -> ### What is identity? (add question mark here too)
## What are identifiers? -> ### What are identifiers?
## What are attestations? -> ### What are attestations?
Then I would leave the DID section at header level 2 (##) and the rest should be fine.

Also, would try to avoid sections without any copy before going into a sub-section.
ie:

## What are identity, identifiers and attestations? {#what-are-identity-identifiers-attestations}

<!-- Add a quick intro sentence here -->

### What is identity {#what-is-identity}

Identity means an individual's sense of self, def...

Will come back to finish the rest =)

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

Co-authored-by: Paul Wackerow <54227730+wackerow@users.noreply.github.com>

minimalsm

@emmanuel-awosika this is looking great 😍

I'm not so familiar with the all of the terminology used here so reviewing it was good for me to learn it as a beginner. Mostly red-inking with suggestions around simplifying language. I'l leave it to @wackerow whether he thinks the substance itself is what he meant by his comment (But I think it is, great job 😎!)

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

minimalsm · 2022-05-27T10:54:09Z

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

+- [Blockchain Use Cases: Blockchain in Digital Identity](https://consensys.net/blockchain-use-cases/digital-identity/) by ConsenSys
+- [What is Ethereum ERC725? Self-Sovereign Identity Management on the Blockchain](https://cryptoslate.com/what-is-erc725-self-sovereign-identity-management-on-the-blockchain/) by Sam Town
+- [How Blockchain Could Solve the Problem of Digital Identity](https://time.com/6142810/proof-of-humanity/) by Andrew R. Chow
+- [What Is Decentralized Identity And Why Should You Care?](https://web3.hashnode.com/what-is-decentralized-identity) by Emmanuel Awosika


This should follow the same convention as our other use case pages. e.g. see our DeFi page

Alright. I'll check for some resources I can add here.

Agree, but wouldn't call this a blocker personally. If we can find a few more things that would be great.

I got some resources that could be useful and added them. LMK if they are good to go.

Co-authored-by: Joshua <62268199+minimalsm@users.noreply.github.com>

wackerow

@emmanuel-awosika This is looking great!! Left another round of comments, but think we're super close to getting this in.

Couple other comments that didn't fit elsewhere:

We should mention explicitly somewhere that 1 identity can have an infinite number of identifiers. I think it's fairly intuitive based on how it's explained now, but I think it wouldn't hurt to mention this concept directly.
@minimalsm Currently our use-case pages are /nft, /dao, /defi... I think /did makes the most sense here tbh, for simplicity and consistency. If we don't rename the file, I think we should at least set up a redirect.
Also, we need to link out to this page before we publish. We planning on adding to the "Use Ethereum" menu I assume, with the other use cases? If so, footer as well, and should be added to the menu on the other "use case" pages.

💪 Almost there!

wackerow · 2022-05-30T20:43:24Z

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

+summaryPoint3: Decentralized identity projects can revolutionize identity management. 
+---
+
+


We should have an intro here before getting into the content, quickly laying out what to expect with the content to come.
Currently we're diving into "What is/are ___" x3, and we should intro this to explain that there are some terms that sound similar, but have differences, that you need to understand first to make the most out of the rest.
Within this, we can mention these three terms (identity/identifier/attestation), so the next three sections are known to be a bundle, and sets the stage for getting into the decentralized identifier content to follow.

Yeah, so I figured we could start with a "What is decentralized identity?" section to broach the idea and use that to lead into the next section explaining identifiers, identity, and attestations. I changed the structure, so the identity/identifier/attestation section are now H3s. I felt it made sense to put them under the preceding section.

I also structured the intro that way to help with SEO. It might be good to have a paragraph that answers "What is decentralized identity" at the beginning. LMK what you think about it.

I think @wackerow means something similar to the NFT page intro. Something akin to an abstract to entice users to read further.

Outline problem (reliance on centralized third parties) at a high level

Provide some context

Suggest the solution (decentralized identity) at a high level

Other than that, this looks good to go to me @emmanuel-awosika.

I just added a new intro. LMK if it works.

wackerow · 2022-05-30T20:43:59Z

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

+
+Identity means an individual's sense of self, defined by a set of unique characteristics. Identity refers to the fact of being an _individual_, i.e., a distinct human entity. Identity could also refer to other non-human entities, such as an organization or authority.
+
+## What are identifiers? {#what-are-identifiers}


Yeah agree, I posted above about adding an introduction for the page which could help explain how these sections fit together (helping with the transition here)

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

wackerow · 2022-05-30T21:00:04Z

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

+
+An attestation is a claim made by one entity about another entity. If you live in the United States, the driver's license issued to you by the Department of Motor Vehicles (one entity) attests that you (another entity) are legally allowed to drive a car.
+
+Attestations are different from identifiers. An attestation _contains_ identifiers to reference a particular identity, and makes a claim about an attribute related to this identity. So, your driver's license has identifiers (name, date of birth, address) but is also the attestation about your legal right to drive.


src/content/decentralized-identity.md

wackerow · 2022-05-30T21:38:32Z

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

+- [Blockchain Use Cases: Blockchain in Digital Identity](https://consensys.net/blockchain-use-cases/digital-identity/) by ConsenSys
+- [What is Ethereum ERC725? Self-Sovereign Identity Management on the Blockchain](https://cryptoslate.com/what-is-erc725-self-sovereign-identity-management-on-the-blockchain/) by Sam Town
+- [How Blockchain Could Solve the Problem of Digital Identity](https://time.com/6142810/proof-of-humanity/) by Andrew R. Chow
+- [What Is Decentralized Identity And Why Should You Care?](https://web3.hashnode.com/what-is-decentralized-identity) by Emmanuel Awosika


Agree, but wouldn't call this a blocker personally. If we can find a few more things that would be great.

wackerow · 2022-05-30T21:44:38Z

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

+emoji: ":id:"
+sidebar: true
+sidebarDepth: 2
+summaryPoint1: Centralized identity systems are fragmented, poorly secured, and offer minimal privacy protection.


The rest of the page is looking really good... I think we could strengthen these summary points now based on the latest the page has to offer.

Would consider along the lines of

Traditionally identity systems have centralized the issuance, maintenance and control of your identifiers.

Decentralized identity solutions give the power back to the individual, further decreasing reliance on centralized third-parties

Thanks to crypto, users now have the tools to issue, hold and control their own identifiers and attestations once again

Just added this now.

Co-authored-by: Paul Wackerow <54227730+wackerow@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Joshua <62268199+minimalsm@users.noreply.github.com>

Edits to incorporate feedback.

emmanuel-awosika · 2022-05-31T10:35:43Z

Hey @minimalsm, I fixed the issue with the universal logins section by replacing "dapps" with "service providers." Also, I included a brief sentence to explain how decentralized identity replaces password-based logins with decentralized authentication. @samajammin previously opened an issue on that topic, so I thought to add the information there

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

Co-authored-by: Paul Wackerow <54227730+wackerow@users.noreply.github.com>

minimalsm · 2022-06-06T11:13:01Z

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

+sidebarDepth: 2
+summaryPoint1: Traditional identity systems have centralized the issuance, maintenance and control of your identifiers.
+summaryPoint2: Decentralized identity solutions give the power back to the individual, further decreasing reliance on centralized third-parties.
+summaryPoint3: Thanks to crypto, users now have the tools to issue, hold and control their own identifiers and attestations once again. 


Users can't issue their attestations (well they can, but self-issued attestations in theory should be meaningless)

Oh, I think the "issue" part only has to do with decentralized identifiers. A possible suggestion would be to rework the sentence to read: "Thanks to crypto, users can now issue identifiers, and hold and control attestations." Does this work?

src/content/decentralized-identity.md

Co-authored-by: Joshua <62268199+minimalsm@users.noreply.github.com>

wackerow

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Add use-case for decentralized identity #6082

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		summaryPoint3: Decentralized identity projects can revolutionize identity management.
		---


		Identity means an individual's sense of self, defined by a set of unique characteristics. Identity refers to the fact of being an _individual_, i.e., a distinct human entity. Identity could also refer to other non-human entities, such as an organization or authority.

		## What are identifiers? {#what-are-identifiers}


		An attestation is a claim made by one entity about another entity. If you live in the United States, the driver's license issued to you by the Department of Motor Vehicles (one entity) attests that you (another entity) are legally allowed to drive a car.

		Attestations are different from identifiers. An attestation _contains_ identifiers to reference a particular identity, and makes a claim about an attribute related to this identity. So, your driver's license has identifiers (name, date of birth, address) but is also the attestation about your legal right to drive.

Add use-case for decentralized identity #6082

Add use-case for decentralized identity #6082

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