LID-FAQ-General
From lid.netmesh.org
Questions about LID in general.
Why is it called "Light-Weight Digital Identity"?
We follow a tradition of "simple" or "light-weight" protocols, such as LDAP (the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), SNMP (the Simple Network Management Protocol) and others. Those protocols are simplifications of more complex protocols; but instead of being less capable due to fewer features, those simple and light-weight protocols have had runaway success that their more complex predecessors lacked.
This was because their simplification reduced the required complexity to the point where many people could easily support them, and that was one of the goals for us when we came up with LID. So many existing identity schemes are just far too complicated to be adoptable broadly.
How do I get a LID digital identity for myself?
If you have control over any URL, such as your home page, you already have a LID identifier. Now you only need to make sure that your LID URL supports Yadis discovery. That can easily be accomplished through the instructions at Turn Your Blog Into a LID URL.
If you don't like to delegate to a 3rd-party service, you can install and run one of the LID Implementations. If you are a skilled developer, you can probably implement MinimumLID in less than an afternoon yourself (although additional LID Services will probably take you a bit longer).
Can I use any URL as my LID digital identity?
Yes, as long as you can edit the HTML at the URL, or can configure the HTTP server.
For security reasons, you should also exclusive access to the files at that URL. Having a trustworthy service provider or systems administrator is also a good thing, as always.
Why did you chose URLs as identifiers, instead of creating a new name space like others advocate?
In our view, most of the perceived advantages of a new name space evaporate on close inspection, while URLs have several advantages over a new name space on their own:
- User education: If I print my LID URL on my business card, virtually anybody knows what to do with it. That is not generally true with names from a new namespace (e.g. would your mother know what to do with =John.Doe?)
- Software compatibility: all browsers are fully-fledged identity clients without requiring changes or plug-in's, which generally is not true if a different name space was used
- Because URLs are just URLs, innovation is easily possible -- URL-aware software is everywhere.
- The argument "but I might not own the DNS domain where my LID is hosted and thus might lose it at some point" is valid, but we believe any new name space, if invented and successful, will require a similar pay-for-limited-time business model for names as DNS does. Why not get your very own john.doe.name domain, for example, which has all the advantages and disadvantages of any john.doe identifier in a new name space, except that it is accessible with standard browsers?
- Any new name space needs a governing body. If you have watched the history of ICANN (including current demands for internationalization), we'd very much argue that we don't need another ICANN for another name space; one is complicated enough.
Where can I download a LID implementation?
See LID Implementations.
Does LID support single-sign-on (SSO)?
Yes, at those sites that are LID-enabled, i.e. sites that support a particular login protocol.
What else can LID do?
Lots. See LID Features and Benefits, or LID 2.0 Profiles.
How does LID relate to Kim Cameron's Laws of Identity?
We believe LID meets all published laws. Johannes Ernst blogged about it here.
How do you expect LID to be adopted broadly?
LID faces similar challenges as other systems for digital identity management. However, it has several unique features that make it a more appealing system for broad acceptance:
- No trust in a large, dominating corporation is required.
- LID puts identity owners and the users of identity information (such as vendors) on an equal footing, instead of favoring one side to the detriment of the other as some other systems do. This removes an important obstacle to the adoption of digital identities by end users.
- LID is decentralized: many individuals and companies can adopt LID at their own pace, instead of all having to synchronize their "big switch" to one new centralized system.
- LID benefits everybody, from bloggers in the living room to large corporations (unlike virtually all other digital identity systems).
- LID is an open system: everyone can see how the protocol works, and 3rd parties can extend and integrate LID for their specific requirements, taking their unique circumstances into account. (NetMesh will define LID Conformance Requirements that guarantee interoperability in the future.)
Is there a central registry of LID URLs somewhere?
No. Because LID URLs are regular URLs, there is no central registry of LID URLs anywhere, just like there is no central registry of regular URLs anywhere.
The closest to a central registry would be a search engine such as Google with a suitable query. But even then, it would be easy for a LID URL owner to hide their identity from the Google spider. (This is a feature, not a bug.)
Who owns the LID trademark and why is it so important?
The LID trademark is currently owned by NetMesh Inc., the originator of LID. We'd like to use LID in some form as a certification mark in the future, so consumers can easily determine whether or not a given LID implementation is indeed certified to work with other LID systems.
Where are the business opportunities in conjunction with LID?
There are a range of them, but this wiki may not be the place to discuss them exhaustively. Many of those opportunities will revolve around improving the user experience of a website and increasing the ease of commerce when people bring their own LID. LID also enables a range of new, decentralized social networking and social media features.
To discuss business opportunities, please contact NetMesh.
