Both the primordial fediverse of ActivityPub as well as the federated Matrix have been mulling over various private-key approaches to the ideal of decentralized or nomadic identity, but I think we’ve been trying to solve too many deep-rooted problems in one go. This has kept us in a holding pattern for many years: Nomadic identity for the fediverse? Decentralised user accounts · Issue #246 · matrix-org/matrix-spec · GitHub Meanwhile there’s a major convergence of OAuth/OIDC support across apu...

There’s a major convergence of OAuth/OIDC support across fediverse applications, Matrix is going all-in on it as its root default, and other social web protocols are tagging along as well.

Like the separation of church and state, it seems prudent to keep the management of our digital identities separate from our social network servers.

Domain-based OIDC accounts, especially when self-hosted, serve the function of a minimum-viable ‘nomadic identity’.

With the emergence of Rauthy, being a self-hosted OIDC provider is suddenly viable. All that’s missing is web sign-in (IndieAuth lite) as single sign-on for the masses.

Mastodon post: https://writing.exchange/@erlend/111376285042429865