6B/ NO/Web3 - NO/SSI - YES WEB5 / Timothy Ruff
Session 6B
Web3, SSI, Web 5
Session Convener: Timothy Ruff
Notes-taker(s): Eric Scouten
Tags / links to resources / technology discussed, related to this session:
[Based on Timothy’s Medium article https://rufftimo.medium.com/zero-trust-web5-and-gleifs-vlei-63ffcb800028 Based on Timothy’s Medium article https://rufftimo.medium.com/zero-trust-web5-and-gleifs-vlei-63ffcb800028]
Discussion notes, key understandings, outstanding questions, observations, and, if appropriate to this discussion: action items, next steps:
SSI is a second-class citizen / afterthought in Web3, behind cryptocurrency, smart contracts, defi, blockchain, NFTs, DAOs, etc.
Premise: SSI community should dissociate itself from Web3. Web3 is a dumpster fire and tainted in public perception. SSI is far more important and should stand alone.
TR: "I am not a believer in DAOs." (Hmmm. Why?)
Counterpoint / credit to Web3: Blockchain blew the doors off of status quo thinking. Got general public to stop being scared of deeply technical things. Wallets. Appreciation for open-source. Led to experiments in governance (DAOs).
TR: "VCs are going to impact every technical interaction. Your phone call will not ring unless the signature of the caller checks out."
TR: Re: Web3 things (see list at top of page). "My crystal ball says these things will not achieve ubiquity. They will not get much bigger than they are now."
TR: "What's the incentive of the Internet? There is no incentive." But the internet is huge anyway. Internet *enables* applications that provide value and thus have incentives.
New law in US: Financial Data Transparency Act. Every entity must have a globally unique non-proprietary identifier. Sounds very much like GLEIF.
Most in room (~80%) are at least somewhat persuaded by this argument.
Ooh, now Timothy moves on to challenge the term SSI.
~40% of people in the room have experienced "allergic reactions" to the term SSI. Why? Opinions around the room:
- Sounds libertarian
- It's a mouthful
- Sovereign implies nation-state imperialism
- Tax evasion
- Doesn't apply to enterprise
- Language is too fancy
- Implied assocation to blockchain
Sovereignty isn't total. Data could be lost. Identity could be revoked (by who?). Identity could expire.
KERI uses AIDs, not DIDs to avoid the idea that you're renting an identity. Your DID is typically tied to the lifetime of the ID resolving.
Read up on AIDs vs DIDs.
TR: "I am passionate about the goals of SSI, but I believe the term SSI is getting in our way." There are reasons why Microsoft, Salesforce, etc, are avoiding using the term SSI.
The term "self-sovereign" alienates big corps.
TR: Discusses and then dismisses the term "decentralized identity" as an alternative.
"Decentralized identity" is also conflated with Web3. Don't use it for that reason. Let Web3 have the terms SSI and decentralized identity.
Call it Web 5. Follow Jack Dorsey's lead. Why?
Dorsey's language intentionally distances from Web3. Use Web-something to create distance from Web3. (Some in audience dispute that it actually has that effect. Others says it's presumptive to say it's the new web.)
TR: There's no perfect term. Dorsey has already launched it. Web5 doesn't have built-in meaning, which is actually a benefit.
Audience asks so what IS Web5?
TR defines "web 5" as "autonomous control of authentic data and relationships."
TR: I see lots of problems with all of the potential names. I just see fewer problems with Web5 as compared to SSI and decentralized identity.
