Phil Windley

AUGUST 29, 2018

Creating an identity system that is flexible enough to support the various ad hoc scenarios that the world presents us with can only be done using a decentralized system like Sovrin that allows multiple credentials from various authorities to be shared in the ways the scenario demands.

Insurance 50

Insurance Report System Examples 50

Phil Windley

OCTOBER 31, 2017

Summary: Sovrin capitalizes on decades of cryptographic research and the now widespread availability of decentralized ledger technology to rethink identity solutions so that we can have scalable, flexible, private interactions with consent despite the issues that distance introduces. The Sovrin Architecture.

Internet 45

Internet Architecture System Data 45

Phil Windley

MAY 11, 2021

This post goes deep on Manny Nijjar’s work to create a program for using digital staff passports in the sprawling UK NHS bureaucracy. I first met Manny at the launch of Sovrin Foundation in London in September 2016. Manny’s first thought had been to use a traditional, administrative scheme using usernames and passwords.

Healthcare 80

Healthcare Programming Video Training 80

Phil Windley

OCTOBER 16, 2019

Summary: In this post, I look at the words we use to describe verifiable credential exchange with an eye to being more specific about the part different components of the SSI stack play in providing trustworthy data exchange. I wrote the following to use them in describing credential exchange in the SSI Stack. I like those.

Banking 56

Banking Government Examples System 56

Phil Windley

MAY 24, 2022

Someone recently said (I wish I had a reference) that using your Ethereum address for your online identity is like introducing yourself at a party using your bank balance. But that doesn't have to be the case. NFTs are a good match for this use case because they represent ownership and are transferable.

Internet 110

Internet Examples System Network 110

Phil Windley

DECEMBER 2, 2020

In this diagram, Alice uses Brataza's app on her mobile device to connect with Baratza's IoT cloud. If Baratza is offline, decides to stop supporting her grinder, goes out of business, or otherwise shuts down the service, Alice's coffee grinder becomes less useful and maybe stops working all together. DID Relationships for IoT.

Internet 87

Internet Security Examples Authentication 87

Phil Windley

AUGUST 3, 2017

Picos are Internet-first actors that are well suited for use in building decentralized soutions on the Internet of Things. Market intelligence that flows both ways —Doc Searls talks about how pico-based shadows of products are useful in creating new customer service interaction patterns.

Engineering 40

Engineering Load Balancer Internet Programming 40

Phil Windley

NOVEMBER 9, 2020

Using the wallet, people can operationalize their digital relationships as peers with others online. Recently, I've been making the case for self-sovereign identity and why it is the correct architecture for online identity systems. The SSI wallet Doc is discussing is the tool people use to operationalize their digital relationships.

Authentication 59

Authentication Architecture System Network 59

Phil Windley

MARCH 9, 2018

Summary: CryptoKitties are a useful example of digital ownership and self-sovereignty. If you haven't been paying attention, CryptoKitties is a Web site that uses a browser-based wallet (MetaMask) to sell (for Ether) little virtual kitties. Because of these properties, a CryptoKitty can be remixed and used in other applications.

Virtualization 58

Virtualization Meeting Government Examples 58

Phil Windley

JULY 1, 2019

Commercial Use. Susan's first question concerns commercial use cases. Most of the use cases for verifiable credentials are just digital forms of credentials that have long existed and making them digital doesn't change the business model. Will banks and others be able to rely on and re-use expensive KYC checks?

Banking 92

Banking Government System Internet 92

Phil Windley

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

Summary: An identity metasystem like the Sovrin Network provides the foundation for creating tens of millions of interoperable identity systems for every conceivable context and use. This post discusses how these identity systems are built, illustrative use cases, and the potential marketplace for credentials.

System 87

System Network Licensing Airlines 87

Phil Windley

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

1 Any time we use a unique (within some context) string to label something for quick reference, we're giving it an identifier. A computer system uses identifiers to correlate all the information it knows about a given thing. The mis-use of identifiers can lead to unwanted, even dangerous correlations. URLs are identifiers.

Authentication 102

Authentication Examples System Security 102

Phil Windley

JANUARY 7, 2019

Summary: In this post, I make a case that Sovrin not only conforms to Kim Cameron's Seven Laws of Identity, but constitutes the identity metasystem he envisioned in 2004. The Internet was created without any way to identify the people who used it. This is an excellent description of Sovrin. emphasis in original).

Banking 88

Banking Internet System Software 88

Phil Windley

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Summary: We can't have broad adoption of verifiable credentials until we find a way to scale their presentation by providing tooling that credential verifiers can use to reduce their risk and gain confidence in the facts presented to them. But it was impossible to use a Chevron card at Sears. Sears trusted its card.

Network 89

Network Banking Financial Government 89

Phil Windley

JULY 26, 2018

Summary: This article describes the role that the Sovrin Foundation and associated groups play in governing, operating, and using the Sovrin Network. The Sovrin Network is designed and intended to be decentralized so understanding the key influence points and community groups is important.

Government 40

Government Open Source Groups Network 40

Phil Windley

MARCH 13, 2020

Summary: The Sovrin Identity Metasystem is based on a sophisticated stack of protocols, implemented in open-source code, backed and supported by hundreds of organizations, large and small, around the world. This post describes how the metasystem is implemented by the Sovrin SSI Stack. The Sovrin SSI Stack (click to enlarge).

Government 59

Government Network Open Source Policies 59

Phil Windley

FEBRUARY 3, 2018

This post describes the governance of the Sovrin network. Our approach is a constitutional model based on an agreement we call the Sovrin Turst Framework that informs and guides everything from code development to the responsibilities of the various actors in the system. The Sovrin blockchain is a good example.

Government 55

Government Open Source Network System 55

Phil Windley

FEBRUARY 4, 2018

This post describes the governance of the Sovrin network. Our approach is a constitutional model based on an agreement we call the Sovrin Turst Framework that informs and guides everything from code development to the responsibilities of the various actors in the system. The Sovrin blockchain is a good example.

Government 45

Government Open Source Network System 45

Phil Windley

JUNE 26, 2019

Summary: Just as we're finally at a point where online identity system can solve the health care records problem without using a universal identifier, the US is poised to explore one. Instead let's use identity systems that protect privacy. Sovrin is a project that makes it real and usable.

Healthcare 58

Healthcare Open Source Budget Security 58

Phil Windley

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

This blog post uses terminology and ideas from Sam's paper to classify and analyze three different identity system architectures. I hope it provides a used model for thinking about identity online. To do so, they use identifiers , convenient handles that name the thing being remembered. Algorithmic. Self-Certifying.

Architecture 138

Architecture System Authentication Security 138

Phil Windley

OCTOBER 23, 2018

Summary: Sovrin is more than a ledger and its claim to being a decentralized identity system rests on more than that. Sovrin comprises three layers, each of which promotes and strengthens decentralization and self-sovereign identity. Sovrin is a hybrid ledger. The Case for Decentralized Identity (Aug 2017).

Open Source 45

Open Source Network Architecture Government 45

Phil Windley

MAY 11, 2020

Sovrin Network is based on Hyperledger Indy. In Sovrin, this idea is called "Network of Networks" and it has many proponents. I put that in quotes because I'm using the term "speak" in a very general sense. To understand that better, let's look at the Sovrin SSI Stack. The Sovrin SSI Stack (click to enlarge).

Network 59

Network Government Architecture Internet 59

Phil Windley

MAY 6, 2020

Sovrin Network is based on Hyperledger Indy. In Sovrin, this idea is called "Network of Networks" and it has many proponents. I put that in quotes because I'm using the term "speak" in a very general sense. To understand that better, let's look at the Sovrin SSI Stack. The Sovrin SSI Stack (click to enlarge).

Network 52

Network Government Architecture Internet 52

Phil Windley

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

Sovrin is built to use non-correlatable identifiers by default while still providing all the necessary functionality we expect from an identity system. The great news is that building identity systems that use pairwise, pseudonymous, non-correlatable identifiers is doable now. Notes: This is the general case.

Security 63

Security System Data Banking 63

Phil Windley

JANUARY 26, 2021

The generative nature of the self-sovereign internet is underpinned by the same kind of properties that make the internet what it is, promising a more secure and private, albeit no less useful, internet for tomorrow. Maybe Alice uses it for passwordless login at company web sites and services and to purchase meals at the company cafeteria.

Internet 72

Internet Authentication Architecture Examples 72

Phil Windley

AUGUST 20, 2019

Summary: Sovrin is an identity metasystem that provides the Internet's missing identity layer. In the physical world, we effortlessly use identity to enable countless daily interactions. You arrive at the restaurant after installing the FoodFinder app this restaurant uses to allow itself to be located.

Internet 102

Internet Banking System Architecture 102

Phil Windley

DECEMBER 10, 2018

The definition, public DID, schema, and revocation registry are all stored on a distributed ledger that is used for decentralized discovery. The employer could use credentials they have to prove this to the bank, or they could do it out of band. See What Goes on the Ledger (PDF) for more detail on these.).

Banking 53

Banking Internet Examples Licensing 53

Phil Windley

JULY 16, 2020

We need our digital relationships to have integrity, but we create them to be useful over a specified lifetime. SSI provides improved support for creating, managing, and using digital relationships. Instead the user experience in an SSI system is based on forming relationships and using credentials. Relationship Integrity.

Authentication 95

Authentication System Data Architecture 95

Phil Windley

AUGUST 12, 2020

Architecture is a powerful force that drives culture and therefore determines what strategies will succeed—or, more generally, what use cases are possible. Administrative identity systems use a simple schema, containing just the attributes that the administrator needs to serve their purposes and reduce risk.

Authentication 112

Authentication Architecture System Examples 112

Phil Windley

JANUARY 7, 2020

We created the Sovrin Foundation to foster a thriving ecosystem for an identity metasystem. We created the Sovrin Foundation to do that. An identity system that you can't use everywhere is just a different technology implementation of what we have now with Login with Apple (or Amazon or Google or Facebook or.). Governance.

Network 69

Network Open Source Government Groups 69