Names must be human-readable in order to be widely used. Unfortunately, while DIDs and Tor .onion addresses are decentralized and globally unique, they are not human readable. How can we build user interfaces that real users might actually use? In this paper we provide an overview of petname systems, a way of mapping human readable names to cryptographically secure names, and describe changes to two user interface designs that we believe that are compatible with intuitive user expectations. We first discuss the smartphone contact list as already approximating petnames to some degree and discuss how to augment it with secure introduction. We then walk through several changes to browsers (which may be provided natively or as an extension) which add the functionality of a petname system. By utilizing petname systems we are able to collectively support individual naming definitions, community curated directories of names, as well as existing naming authorities such as certificate authorities and the domain name system, government agencies such as trademark offices, and decentralized systems such as Namecoin.
Petnames: A humane approach to secure, decentralized naming
Names must be human-readable in order to be widely used. Unfortunately, while DIDs and Tor .onion addresses are decentralized and globally unique, they are not human readable. How can we build user interfaces that real users might actually use? In this paper we provide an overview of petname systems, a way of mapping human readable names to cryptographically secure names, and describe changes to two user interface designs that we believe that are compatible with intuitive user expectations. We first discuss the smartphone contact list as already approximating petnames to some degree and discuss how to augment it with secure introduction. We then walk through several changes to browsers (which may be provided natively or as an extension) which add the functionality of a petname system. By utilizing petname systems we are able to collectively support individual naming definitions, community curated directories of names, as well as existing naming authorities such as certificate authorities and the domain name system, government agencies such as trademark offices, and decentralized systems such as Namecoin.
Petname Tool: Enabling web site recognition using the existing SSL infrastructure
The existing WWW infrastructure already provides for authentication of web sites. Unfortunately, the advent of phishing has shown that the mainstream user interface to web site authentication is not meaningful to users. This paper proposes a new browser user interface widget, the petname tool, that integrates meaningful authentication information into the browsing workflow.
Introducing Nomulus: an open source top-level domain name registry
Pet name system · Issue #12 · subconsciousnetwork/noosphere
Our plan at this time is to implement a generalized pet name system that enables users to write human-readable names instead of DIDs when addressing other spheres. This is the tracking issue that c...
CCFS cryptographically curated file system
The Internet was originally designed to be a next-generation phone system that could withstand a Soviet attack. Today, we ask the Internet to perform tasks that no longer resemble phone calls in the face of threats that no longer resemble Soviet bombardment. However, we have come to rely on names that can be subverted at every level of the stack or simply be allowed to rot by their original creators. It is possible for us to build networks of content that serve the content distribution needs of today while withstanding the hostile environment that all modern systems face. This dissertation presents the Cryptographically Curated File System (CCFS), which offers five properties that we feel a modern content distribution system should provide. The first property is Strong Links, which maintains that only the owner of a link can change the content to which it points. The second property, Permissionless Distribution, allows anyone to become a curator without dependence on a naming or numbering authority. Third, Independent Validation arises from the fact that the object seeking affirmation need not choose the source of trust. Connectivity, the fourth property, allows any curator to delegate and curate the right to alter links. Each curator can delegate the control of a link and that designee can do the same, leaving a chain of trust from the original curator to the one who assigned the content. Lastly, with the property of Collective Confidence, trust does not need to come from a single source, but can instead be an aggregate affirmation. Since CCFS embodies all five of these properties, it can serve as the foundational technology for a more robust Web. CCFS can serve as the base of a web that performs the tasks of today’s Web, but also may outperform it. In the third chapter, we present a number of scenarios that demonstrate the capacity and potential of CCFS. The system can be used as a publication platform that has been re-optimized within the constraints of the modern Internet, but not the constraints of decades past. The curated links can still be organized into a hierarchical namespace (e.g., a Domain Naming System (DNS)) and de jure verifications (e.g., a Certificate Authority (CA) system), but also support social, professional, and reputational graphs. This data can be distributed, versioned, and archived more efficiently. Although communication systems were not designed for such a content-centric system, the combination of broadcasts and point-to-point communications are perfectly suited for scaling the distribution, while allowing communities to share the burdens of hosting and maintenance. CCFS even supports the privacy of friend-to-friend networks without sacrificing the ability to interoperate with the wider world. Finally, CCFS does all of this without damaging the ability to operate search engines or alert systems, providing a discovery mechanism, which is vital to a usable, useful web. To demonstrate the viability of this model, we built a research prototype. The results of these tests demonstrate that while the CCFS prototype is not ready to be used as a drop-in replacement for all file system use cases, the system is feasible. CCFS is fast enough to be usable and can be used to publish, version, archive, and search data. Even in this crude form, CCFS already demonstrates advantages over previous state-of-the-art systems. When the Internet was designed, there were relatively fewer computers that were far weaker than the computers we have now. They were largely connected to each other over reliable connections. When the Internet was first created, computing was expensive and propagation delay was negligible. Since then, the propagation delay has not improved on a Moore’s Law Curve. Now, latency has come to dominate all other costs of retrieving content; specifically, the propagation time has come to dominate the latency. In order to improve the latency, we are paying more for storage, processing, and bandwidth. The only way to improve propagation delay is to move the content closer to the destination. In order to have the content close to the demand, we store multiple copies and search multiple locations, thus trading off storage, bandwidth, and processing for lower propagation delay. The computing world should re-evaluate these trade-offs because the situation has changed. We need an Internet that is designed for the technologies used today, rather than the tools of the 20th century. CCFS, which regards the trade-off for lower propagation delay, will be better suited for 21st-century technologies. Although CCFS is not preferable in all situations, it can still offer tremendous value. Better robustness, performance, and democracy make CCFS a contribution to the field. Robustness comes from the cryptographic assurances provided by the five properties of CCFS. Performance comes from the locality of content. Democracy arises from the lack of a centralized authority that may grant the right of Free Speech only to those who espouse rhetoric compatible with their ideals. Combined, this model for a cryptographically secure, content-centric system provides a novel contribution to the state of communications technology and information security.
filaebot/petnames
Browser extension for personal naming on Bluesky. Your namespace, your mental model.
Real-Name Policies: The War Against Pseudonymity
Real-name policies have existed for over a decade, but these problems have become exponentially harmful in today's world. It's time to fight back against this unsafe and discriminatory privacy-invasive practice.
We need a new username system
What do Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and a gazillion other digital platforms have in common? They all treat usernames like a baby treats a diaper instead of the precious and lucrative resource they are.
Web Crypto’s SubtleCrypto: A Masterclass in Developer Hostility and How It Strangles the Modern Web
Not Subtle, Just Sabotage — An API Against the Web
Atproto Web Names & Origins
Atproto web names is a proposal for resolving a short, human-readable name of the form @handle/name into loaded, attributable web content, using AT Protocol identity as the namespace root. It covers resolution of names to records, the vocabulary those records use to describe where content lives, the origin model that isolates loaded content, and the obligations on clients and publishers that make the result trustworthy.
tholian-network/stealth
:rocket: Stealth - Secure, Peer-to-Peer, Private and Automateable Web Browser/Scraper/Proxy
Building a Browser-Native Verification Stack for Tinfoil
Learn how we built a browser-based confidentiality and integrity verifier with implementations of browser-native Sigstore and TUF libraries.
Guardian Angels: LLM Personalization for Productivity and Security
I propose an approach for highly personalized LLMs, for near-future productivity gains and personal info/cybersecurity against increasingly powerful LLMs: they should, in the spirit of uploading, try to emulate the user’s values and preferences in order to amplify the principal—not replace them. I discuss a package of techniques and proposals to accomplish such ‘guardian angels’; dynamic evaluation of LLMs combined with active learning and elicitation and heavy inner-monologue search/data-augmentation.
An End-to-End Encrypted Peer-to-Peer Chat System with Self-Sovereign Identity
Today, messaging applications are the most popular medium of communication over the Internet. As their use has grown, different security and privacy concerns have received the attention of users. Users consider what they send with others to be private, tamper-proof and secure without getting exposed to unintended entities. Furthermore, users are concerned whether their data is exposed if the service provider encounters any cyber attack. In this paper, we propose a Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)-based End-to-End Encrypted Peer-to-Peer (E2EE P2P) chat system that does not rely on any specific provider, enhancing user privacy and security. The system leverages decentralized identifiers (DIDs) to establish secure communication channels using the DIDcomm (DID Communications) protocol, which ensures the privacy of user data. We also introduce a secure file sharing mechanism that ensures that all data, including messages, are stored solely on the user's device, further safeguarding user privacy. The system is developed following the Design Science Methodology, addressing probable threats and satisfying different functional and security requirements. The architecture and its implementation details are discussed with the subsequent use cases and protocol flow. Finally, we analyze different aspects of the system.
Building Unforgeable Professional Endorsements with ATProtocol - Nick's Blog
Traditional professional endorsements on platforms like LinkedIn lack cryptographic proof—anyone could forge them, and the platform controls the truth. This article introduces a two-record architecture using ATProtocol's Content Identifiers (CIDs) and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) to create mathematically unforgeable mutual attestations. By separating proof creation from endorsement acceptance and leveraging the firehose for distributed validation, we build a system where both parties cryptographically consent and no central authority can manipulate the record.
Refine Petname UX by bfollington · Pull Request #688 · subconsciousnetwork/subconscious
Fixes #649 Fixes #613 Fixes #610 Fixes #611 Potentially resolves #615 If we are following a user, we need access to the name we follow them under use a enum with payload for this if we follow...