Delegate Keys

Use the services we like, but be ourseves across them all (same identity across all services)

In order to use our identites (managed and owned by our decentralized identity layer) in other services (eg. Facebook, the 4 twitters (X, Bluesky, Threads, Truth), eBay, Reddit, Airbnb, VRBO, Uber, Lyft, Reddit, etc...) we

Create dedicated, disposable cryptographic public/private key pair for that services use and give it to that service
State (sign and publish a statement using our identity key) that this delegate key represents us on that service

Even though we give these delegate keys to other services, we're in control.
You can view and control your delegate keys on the ONE-OF-US.NET phone app

Revoke a delegate key at any historic time or since always.
Disassociate yourself from a delegate key at any time, meaning that it no longer represents you.

No Accounts

Other services we're used to use accounts, their accounts.

many of those want us to connect to each other using their own accounts (my Facebook account is friends with yours, My X account follows yours, My Airbnb account rated yours, ...)
Using this paradigm, if anything, you have an account with the folks who vouched for your identity

Using Lisa's point of view (see Simpsons Bot Farm Demo) we can see that she'd trust that Bart's delegate key on the Nerd'ster ("Bart@nerdster.org") actually represents him.

The statements vouching for identity or delegate keys were signed by their respective identity private keys using the ONE-OF-US.NET phone app.

Bonus: Copy the statement, click out of the verify dialog, switch to Homer's PoV, and verify the statement again (menu /etc => Verify...). The statement's author should be "Boy@nerdster.org".

Trust Cryptography, not ONE-OF-US.NET or Nerdster.org

The Nerd'ster relies on and presents the signed cryptographic chain that can be verified (by Lisa or anyone or any service):

She (Lisa, herself) vouched (signed using her private key) for "Mom" who vouched for "Bart" who delegated a key to the Nerd'ster which is identified as "Bart@nerdster.org".

You could explore every one of these statements

Conveniently in the app:

Click outside of the Verify dialog to dismiss it
Expand the movie icon to see Bart's recommendation
Click on the "Bart" link to see him in the network tree
Hover your mouse over Bart's identity (the smiley :) to see the chains leading to him from the PoV.
Turn on Show for "JSON, keys, and statements" in Settings menu. Click on {JS} to view the statement or key in raw or interpreted form.

Conveniently outside of the app:

Find a link to where the statements are published by right clicking on identities or keys in the network panel. (The token used in the link address can be computed by any service by hashing the public key JSON representation; this is demoed under the /etc => Verify menu.) Here are a few examples:

Services that leverage these statements don't have to trust one-of-us.net or nerdster.org.
The statements are cryptographically signed by folks who hold their own keys!

No Accounts

The Nerd'ster and the ONE-OF-US.NET phone app are purist examples of this paradigm, and you'll note that they don't have any notion of an account.

ONE-OF-US.NET phone app
- Your keys belong to you and are available in the Export menu.
- It's just a tool to create keys, scan other folks' phones and sign and publish statements you authorize, and conduct QR sign in.
Nerd'ster web app
- Accepts your (or anyone's) identity key to show trusted information from that Point of View (PoV), but you don't need an account for that - anyone can view from any PoV.
- Accepts a delegate key to be used as a tool to sign and publish statements you make.

Other online services may need your payment information, for example, which probably necessitates an account. But you could still be represented by your identity key, not by your account.