[HN Gopher] A Model for Identity in Software
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A Model for Identity in Software
Author : todsacerdoti
Score : 58 points
Date : 2021-01-31 13:06 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (christine.website)
(TXT) w3m dump (christine.website)
| kodah wrote:
| I like this model because I think it really represents what
| people already do. Articles like this, and ones about privacy
| (there's some overlap), always focus on LGBT, activists,
| whistleblowers etc but people in more mainstream groups
| participate in identity compartmentalization as well. Sometimes
| they'll open an account for their pet, other times they'll just
| share less intimate details on more open platforms. I've long
| thought PGP and derivative keys are a good solution for this.
| olah_1 wrote:
| SSB has a pretty clever name resolution system[1]. The only
| problem I see with it is that it is a bit too leaky. You may
| learn someone's nickname from a friend, but you also may not if
| your friend doesn't tell you. SSB makes the gossiping of names a
| little too default for my taste.
|
| [1]: https://github.com/ssbc/ssb-names/blob/master/README.md
| PaulHoule wrote:
| In my mind that cartoon character smells like a goat.
| xena wrote:
| Mara is a shark, these SFW drawings don't really leave much
| room for the shark features (fins, body patterns, etc.) to show
| very prominently.
| AnonC wrote:
| > Mara
|
| > "Real names" is usually a poorly defined concept, however in
| this case it usually means "whatever is on your government ID",
| which can be shockingly problematic to transgender or gender-
| nonbinary people that live in life situations or countries that
| prevent them from being able to have agency over their government
| ID.
|
| Not to belittle the problems transgender or nonbinary people
| face, but forcing real names from government IDs can be
| problematic even for the average person in many ways. This is not
| an "it's a problem only for some people" problem. It's also
| problematic for activists who may face different kinds of threats
| and real harm. Anonymity or pseudo anonymity can help people
| express themselves more openly without a constant worry of being
| shamed and/or banished and/or harmed. On this front, Facebook
| still stands out as a big abuser where one can easily shutdown
| someone else's account by reporting it as a fake account.
| Facebook will then deactivate the account, force the user to
| provide a government identity document, and in many cases,
| automatically change the name on the account to the one in the
| document without asking for consent. Edited to add: Facebook's
| policies also require that each person create only one account
| for themselves.
| xena wrote:
| Yeah, I can only really speak to what I've experienced though.
| If you have any links to descriptions of how "real name"
| policies harm people I would be more than glad to include them
| in an upcoming patch to that post.
| colesantiago wrote:
| TL;DR?
| rdpintqogeogsaa wrote:
| tl;dr: Some people have reasons to split up their identity
| (LGBT membership, activism/criminal activities, being a furry,
| not wanting to bother one circle of people with information
| irrelevant to them, plurality of any kind [dissociative
| identity, tulpa fronting, ...]). Almost nothing on the Internet
| has any kind of convenient way to map this 1 person : _n_
| identities relationship.
|
| Separate accounts are a hack and can become prohibitively
| expensive when phone verification is required or may be
| prohibited by terms of service. Allowing multiple accounts also
| makes guarding Internet communities against abuse harder. No
| clear solution seems to exist.
| jebronie wrote:
| I think mental hospitals are a viable solution.
| itsEtai wrote:
| This was an entertaining survey of whats out there and what
| problems aren't solved yet. Im sold that we can do so much better
| than what we have now and Id love to see more explorations!
| xena wrote:
| If you end up making or finding something better, let me know
| at christine.website/contact. I would be happy to review and
| give feedback to those kinds of systems.
| autoditype wrote:
| This isn't a model for identity, this is attempting to justify a
| rearchitecture of identity systems primarily for solving the
| scenario of plurality
| LocalH wrote:
| Many of the things that would ease things up on plural systems
| would also benefit individuals as well
| xena wrote:
| Author of the post here.
|
| Bingo. This is why I want to introduce the worst case
| scenario for the existing model and propose a system flexible
| enough to handle that, this incidentally solves a lot of
| problems that other people have along the way.
| stonecraftwolf wrote:
| This makes it sound as though you just skipped over all the
| stuff about queer people or political dissidents in favor of
| the thing you found easier to dismiss.
|
| Overall this is an argument for treating human identity
| humanely, that is, as though the human is the most important
| part of human identity. That is persuasive to me, particularly
| in contrast to inhumane models of identity that exist primarily
| to serve exploitive business models.
| ealexhudson wrote:
| The problem of "how does a computer identify an individual" is
| clearly a different problem to "how does the individual want to
| be identified?".
|
| Facebook Work accounts. Teachers running Google Classroom.
| There are plenty of examples where technical solutions that
| address the first problem (to make it easier for computers)
| exacerbate the second (which seeks to make things easier for
| humans). We should prioritise the technological solutions that
| help us, not machines.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| I've been thinking about this issue since reading Fall; or, Dodge
| in Hell by Neal Stephenson. It uses the concept of a Purdah: A
| pseudo-anonymous online identity. It's related to concepts of
| trust, fingerprinting, etc.
|
| It inspired me to built a WIP website where you create an
| identity by linking accounts in various locations, that the site
| proves you own. The idea is, you build trust / an identity
| through content you've written on a site - then someone who reads
| your post on another site knows something about your
| trustworthiness. I think an especially potent use is in reducing
| the change a given user (poster, reviewer) etc isn't a bot or
| marketer.
|
| We'll need to think about this more in the near future as
| internet communities (and public opinions) are more heavily
| influenced by bots and other forms of manipulation.
| m463 wrote:
| Sort of like RAID - Redundant Array of IDentity
| Nzen wrote:
| Your site sounds like keybase. While I parked my name there, I
| have no use for it, because it relies on network adoption. I
| mean both my friends (for messages) and for other organizations
| (Sonatype doesn't consider it a gpg key host for signing
| artifacts). Good luck with your deal.
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