Solving Real Problems by Leveraging Linked Data: Unambiguous & Verifiable Identity for HTTP Networks

Problem: Unambiguous Verifiable Network Identity.

How Does Linked Data Address This Problem? It provides critical infrastructure for the WebID Protocol that enables an innovative tweak of SSL/TLS.

What about OpenID? The WebID Protocol embraces and extends OpenID (in an open and positive way) via the WebID + OpenID Hybrid variant of the protocol -- basic effect is that OpenID calls are re-routed to the WebID aspect which simply removes Username and Password Authentication from the authentication challenge interaction pattern.

WebID Components

1. X.509 Certificate and Private Key Generator
2. Structured Profile Document (e.g. a FOAF based Profile) published to an HTTP Network (e.g. World Wide Web) and accessible at an Address (URL)
3. An Agent Identifier aka. WebID (an HTTP Name Reference re. URI variant) that's the Subject of a Structured Profile Document (actually a Descriptor Resource)
4. Mechanism for persisting Public Key data from X.509 Certificate to Structured Profile Document and associating it with Subject WebID (e.g. SPARUL or other HTTP based methods)
5. Mechanism for de-referencing Public Key data associated with a WebID (from its Structured Profile Document) for comparison against Public Key data following successful standard SSL/TLS protocol handshake (e.g. via SPARQL Query).

Demo

• WebID + OpenID Hybrid Protocol Demo using ODS, Stackoverflow.com, and identi.ca. - Youtube Screencast Demo

Related

• Prior Posts about WebIDs
• Draft WebID Spec

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