Learning to Trust Strangers (article on reputation networks)

[Samupaha]

Good discussion on identities in Epicenter Bitcoin: EB109 – Tim Pastoor: Rethinking Identity As A Decentralized Web Of Trust With Identifi

Identity is probably one of the most important constructs in our society. In our modern world, protecting one’s identity has become complex, as we no longer rely solely on governments to prove who we are. In addition, most identity sources can be easily compromised. Credit cards and social security numbers weren’t developed with the Internet in mind, and other identifiers such as logins and passwords aren’t well suited truly secure authentication and authorisation.

We’re joined by Tim Pastoor, Founder of 2way.io, to discuss how we can improve control of our identities using concepts borrowed from Bitcoin. Tim walks us through how people could better manage different identities and build reputation networks using Identifi, a global address book protocol invented by Martti Malmi, one of the very first Bitcoin users. We also talk what role this system could play in the future as autonomous agents and artificial intelligence become more prevalent.

Topics we discussed include :

– The history of identity systems and how traditional identity systems are broken
– How the invention of Blockchain technologies changed the way we think of identity
– The Identifi protocol and how it works
– How we can build reputation through Webs of Trust (WoT)
– The future of identity and how Identifi could provide ID for IoT, robots, autonomous agents and artificial intelligence
– 2Way.io and what the company is trying to achieve

[Samupaha]

Learning to Trust Strangers by Martti Malmi.

"Who wants to be a bad guy if anyone you meet already knows it? Your reputation goes ahead of you. Against government monopolies of law enforcement and justice, reputation could easily be a stronger, faster, less corrupt and more cost-efficient force for good. It just needs to be done right."

Check out his project Identi.fi (also on GitHub)