Hacker News Reader

Comment by buboard | Hacker News Reader

The web collectively failed to provide a single authentication token. Unlike mobile phones, where the phone numbers are not controlled by one entity, in the web some companies jumped in and grabbed them all. It's still sad to see that despite multiple protocols, despite open source browser, despite distributed trustless databases, we need to sign up to each service with our email or with FB connect.

For anything in that space to catch on though, it will have to provide a benefit to the webmater. Facebook provided visibility and extensive distribution, that's why so many media chose to move their content in there

View on HN

Interesting points - like the comparison to mobile phone numbers. You’d think that an open account system could provide even more visibility - because you’re not just posting on a closed network.

I think if Facebook was just an account system or just a discovery mechanism, then it could be amazing. It just sucks that every network tries to do it all - and in a closed way.

Firefox should bundle something like metamask in the browser. Not only you will have a trustless identification mechanism for multiple identities, but users will also use it for micropayments.

I think a lot of the privacy and mob mentality issues stem from the fact that current systems don't support multiple disconnected, pseudonymous identities, which we had ~15 years ago. We should make it easy for laypeople to have that again.

I don't know if decentralizing the web is worth the effort since it's less efficient. We need however to steal back identity from those identity barons.

Firefox tried decentralised identity via the Persona protocol. It failed to gain market traction and Mozilla canned the project.

Email is already the decentralised identity protocol.

i think it isn't and that s why i think we need Persona, but without the email-account requirement. Plus mozilla canned the project too early and without ever really trying to push for it, as if they didnt want adoption.

I think such a system is needed, we need to teach people that they are in control of their identity and that it is independent of facebook. Kind of like how mobile apps do it with numbers.

> multiple disconnected, pseudonymous identities

Oh I’m with you.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com