identity commons

The price of the Identity Commons 50-year inames (available at 2idi) will be increasing to $50 effective 5/8/2006 and continuing until the end of May.

At $1/year this is still a great deal, however you still have one more week to get the $25 price. Gift codes for 50-year names are also available and can be redeemed after the global launch whcn unclaimed XNS names are made available.

For more iname news be sure to visit the iname users blog.

The second internet identity workshop takes place May 1st through May 3rd at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View California.

This is an exceptional event - both for the attendees it attracts (many key digital identity players in the industry) and the way it is organized (the open space format makes it easy to roll up sleeves and get work with whoever you want on any topic that is of mutual interest).

Highly recommended!

For those not yet aware of it, Yadis.org is emblematic of what identity commons was founded to promote: interoperability of multiple right answers.

Check it out.

Check out the idmashup wiki for a roundup and emerging synthesis of all things identity.

Among other things, the front page includes a list of some upcoming identity conferences.

apparently the practice of selling identity data has reached a new low; it’s now easy for anyone to purchase your phone records.

if this bothers you, go to moveon.org and petition lawmakers to fix it.

Inspired by conversation and experience at last weeks IIW2005 workshop all references to i-names have been pulled from the Identity Commons web site. Well, all of them except one linking to this post.

What’s the point?

Simply that for Identity Commons to become what it was intended to be from it’s inception, we can’t be about any one technical solution. When we started to work with i-names a couple (few?) years ago, there wasn’t much else around. Now, there’s lots of activity and it’s past time for us to create the space for all the good ideas that are out there.

So, with the help of a group of folks that gathered at IIW2005 and anyone else that’s interested, we’re going to convene here and define what’s next for Identity Commons.

You can still (at least for a bit longer) register an i-name but you won’t find links on the idcommons site. The other pages that referenced i-names are still there but the navigation elements have been removed.

‘Nuff for now.

Whadda ya think?

You probably wouldn’t know if from reading our web site or this newsblog but the Identity Commons is about more than just i-names.

We promise to do a better job of getting our real message out. In the meantime, here’s a start:

We’re not about one particular technology: we want people and their data to be free to move around and have the choice and control to do what they want. This means having a bunch of identity systems that don’t interoperate won’t cut it. (Q: how many single-sign-on systems does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Just one more )

We’re also about more than technology: technology is absolutely necessary (we’re using computers after all) but it is also insufficient - when it comes to identity stuff you can’t remove the people and you need ways to ensure that everyone can participate and the playing field is level.

So why the on and on about i-names?

Has to do with history. Way back in 2002 when this project was getting underway, we had some abstract principles that we wanted present in the network we created. As we looked around for how to build the network we found three choices: Microsoft Passport, Liberty Alliance, and XRI/XDI.

Of the three choices, XRI/XDI was, at that time, hands-down the best fit with our principles so we started down the path to implementation. It has turned out to be a very long path indeed but the implementations are finally arriving and the global launch of i-names (more on this in a later post) is only months away.

Meanwhile, the world has changed and it seems like there’s a new single-sign-on system every month. What do we think about this?Competition is a good thing AND we’d like to see them work together so that us users don’t have to pay the price of balkanization (isn’t that what single sign on is all about?).

Some things that Identity Commons folks are doing about it:

Way back in May, =Andy.Dale announced LID interoperability and a couple weeks ago, announced a data hub service that will “speak” multiple protocols when the i-name launch happens.

This week, Eugene Kim unveiled a very early version of Yoke, an “i-broker for the masses” and announced upcoming support for OpenID and LID in addition to i-names.

These are examples of what we mean by “not just i-names”.

I-names will continue to be a part of the story, but they have always been a starting point. Let the interop begin.

To be continued….

The page for i-names at 2idi now defaults to show sites that offer community i-names.

If you want your site listed, please contact 2idi.

For a limited time you can get a free @name for your web site or organization.

What are @names? A lesser known aspect of i-names is that there are two flavors:

I-names for individuals start with an ‘=’; these are the names Identity Commons has been selling to raise funds for open source code. for example: =ovdavis, =victor.grey.

I-names for organizations start with an ‘@’; for example, @2idi, @xdi, @idcommons.

I-names for organizations (aka, @names) won’t be available until the offical global launch of i-names this winter. However, as part of the Identity Commons early implementation program, XDI.org has made @names available to sites and organizations that either implement i-names or market them.

=Victor.Grey has just posted the first release of an i-name single sign on (isso) client for Ruby apps. Check out the announcement for description, how-to, and links to code.

Identity Commons and some friends (Golightly, dataTao, and Amsoft) will be at Accelerating Future’s Tech Night this Friday, September 16th. Check it out.

We often get asked: “Do all i-names cost money?”

The short and simple answer is NO; i-names can be free. In fact, we expect that most will be free. To see for yourself you can go get a free i-name here or here. If you do, you’ll discover that the i-names offered by these sites can do anything that the =names sold here can do. For instance, I can use the free i-name from Planetwork for a contact page: http://public.xdi.org/@planetwork*owen.

The longer answer is that any site offering i-names (like those above) will incur a small yearly cost (see cost of @names below) and it is up to site operator whether they will charge or give away the i-names for free. We expect that most sites will continue doing exactly what they already do; providing users with login names that are part of the site’s service and charging fees - if any - for the sites’ services, not for the i-name. The i-name is just a handle that brings along extra benefits that regular logins don’t.

The only i-names that we know for sure will cost money are the top level i-names. The prices for these i-names are regulated by XDI.org and set by Cordance.net. As of this writing, we don’t have exact pricing but the prices for top level names are expected to be in the following ballpark once the “global launch” happens this winter:

=names (for individuals) $12 - $15 per year
@names (for organizations) $30 - $40 per year

As soon as we learn the final pricing and launch dates, we’ll be sure to publish it here.

A few more quick points:

1) The i-names we’re selling are a limited quantity of =names, the top level i-names for individuals. We got these as part of a special deal with Cordance to raise money for open source infrastructure and they are an incredibly good deal at $25 for 50 years. For those who want the compactness and freedom from organizational affiliation offered by the =name, the 50-year deal can’t be beat.

2) For a limited time individuals and organizations can get a free @name (the first year is free) if they co-market i-names or help with i-name code and adoption. Sign up to co-market and apply for the free @name.

3) There’s a bit more info about i-names on the following wiki pages: What’s In an I-name and Community I-name FAQ.

Sometimes, when attempting to register an i-name, you get the message ” that i-name is an XNS reserved name”. This somewhat cryptic message inspires folks to ask: what the heck is an XNS name?

A bit ‘o background:

Years ago the technology that has morphed into XRI and XDI was known as XNS. XNS stood for eXtensible Name Service.

In early September of 2000, lifetime XNS Personal Names were made available free of charge to anyone that wanted them. When the program ended about 40,000 of these names had been registered.

As part of our agreement with XDI.org, we agreed to pre-populate the i-name registry with all of the XNS name registrations prior to launching our 50-year i-name fundraiser, and provide all XNS registrants with the ability to re-claim their XNS name. Since then, we have been operating the reclamation program for XDI.org; you can see a full description of the program including the reclamation process and historical background on the XDI.org web site.

So far about 3,000 of the XNS names have been claimed. Folks who haven’t claimed their names still have an opportunity to do so, however time is running out. The XNS reclamation program is scheduled to run until the i-name global launch “scheduled” for late 2005 or early 2006. When the reclamation program ends, any unclaimed XNS names will become available again.

If you, or anyone you know, would like to receive notification when these names become available, you can sign up two ways:

1) Go to the communications options of your i-name account and check the box for “XNS notifcation”. If you don’t have an i-name, find out how to get one here. Or…

2) Signup for the IDCommons Community mailing list.

If you are interested in where to find the code associated with i-names please visit this wiki page. If you have code that uses i-names, feel free to add it to the page.

You can also click the “code” category on this blog to see code related announcements.

If you have questions, please ask

Phil Windley, Doc Searls, Kaliya Hamlin, and Drummond Reed are organizing a workshop on digital identity that will take place October 26 & 27 in Berkeley, CA.

Attendance is limited to 75 people - interested folks should sign up soon.

Last week LivingDirectory.net went live with i-names. LivingDirectory, a directory of directories, blazed trails in showing how people could maintain a single profile and use it in multiple group directories. It also has a event listings by groups, a mailing list capability, and even a kind of reputation currency.

The addition of i-names means:

1) Current i-name users can use their i-name to create or login and manage their LivingDirectory account.
2) Existing LivingDirectory users can get a free i-name like @livingdirectory*myname. This “community” i-name can be used just like any other i-name.

Adding i-names also sets the stage for LivingDirectory profiles to become available outside of the LivingDirectory system, while still providing the user with choice and control of their user data, and the group with choice and control of their group directory data.

It’s no surprise that LivingDirectory is an early adopter: LD’s developer =victor.grey is a co-founder of 2idi.com and a major contributor to the open source i-broker code that pioneered the notion of re-usable profiles. I-names takes the principles learned at LD and implements them in a fully distributed and scalable way.

In a press release last Thursday we announced, along with Opinity, that our organizations are working to combine our services. It even got a bit of press.

Obviously, we think it’s a great fit: integrating i-names and XDI data-sharing with Opinity’s reputation services will enhance both offerings:

* i-names users get access to Opinity reputation services
* data-sharing makes it easy to use reputation in new contexts

As reputation is an important early service we’re doubly glad to be working with Opinity.

Over the weeks ahead we’ll be announcing and adding other services as well. The nature of i-names and data-sharing lets every i-name service enrich the network and we’ll be sure to keep you posted about new services on this blog. If you’ve got a service you’d like to add give us a shout.

Tomorrow night (Thursday, July 28) the monthly San Francisco Planetwork event features a lineup that is all about identity.

Should be a good event for networking with a west coast pod of the emerging identity gang.

Amsoft.net has posted new java versions of ISSO (i-name single sign on) and I-Contact (contact page) i-broker modules. You can read a summary of changes and find links to the code in this announcement.

In addition to the open source modules that Amsoft is contributing to Identity Commons they are also developing commercial modules under their ProIdentity brand.

2idi.com released version 0.7.6 of the php i-broker code today and it is now powering their site. See 2idi’s announcement for a summary of the changes and links to the code.

Most of the updates to the code continue to be back-end refinements that make it easier to deploy i-name funcitionality into other sites. I-name users will benefit from these changes indirectly as more sites adopt i-names.

However there are two changes in the new release that directly benefit i-name users:

1) Folks who authenticate with their i-name to send a contact message are now prompted to enable their contact page so that they can receive a reply. Without this feature contact message recipients sometimes had no way to reply to a message, even to say “I can’t reply”. You can try it out now by sending me a contact message. If your contact page isn’t enabled, you’ll be asked to turn it on.

2) The i-broker now has the capability to send email announcements to i-name holders. As a result, we can now send critical news and announcements to the 2idi and IC opt-in lists. Don’t worry, we will use this ability sparingly and always give you a way to opt-out of future messages. Those that want more info can always stay tuned to this blog.