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There's a demand for anonymous identities that isn't being exploited. People want the value of reputation without the cost of exposing their person information

There's a demand for anonymous identities that isn't being exploited. People want the value of reputation without the cost of exposing their person information. Facebook comments forces you to expose personal information. I want to leave comments with a reputable identity, just not linked to my real one.

PotatoEngineer 15y ago
There's still the option of making a second (or Nth) Facebook account just for anonymous posting. Granted, that doesn't address the main problem.
Astrohacker 15y ago
There is a solution to this problem. Websites should allow people to log in with their public key. You can create a new, internet-only identity with a public key. This would be a little cumbersome at first, but if browsers supported this ability, it could be just as easy as logging in with a password. Here's how it could work: There could be metatags that specify where to submit the public key. The website will then send back a message that can only be decrypted with the private key. The browser has the user type in the password to access their private key, decrypts the message, and sends it back to the website. The user has now started a session with their public key. Since you would use the same public key on all websites, your identity would be the same. This would not require a central server like OpenID.
- thwarted 15y ago
  SSL client certificates are a possibility, but there is very little UX to manage them and present them on a per-site basis.
- barkmadley 15y ago
  I imagine simply assigning your users a unique key as a cookie would get you 90% of the way there. The chances are good that if a person is returning to your website then they are using the same browser. The 10% you miss are cleared cookies and different browsers/private browsing. This could be seen as a feature however since extra anonymity is gained through existing means.
kylemaxwell 15y ago
Doesn't something using Twitter or Google for authentication fix this? Unlike Facebook, they don't require your real info. (Not that FB does a great job of policing that anyway.)
- throwaway32 15y ago
  have you tried to create a google account lately? they now require a cellphone number to complete the sign up.
ignifero 15y ago
You can blog anonymously at http://instablogg.com/ http://instablogg.com/

PotatoEngineer 15y ago

There's still the option of making a second (or Nth) Facebook account just for anonymous posting. Granted, that doesn't address the main problem.

Astrohacker 15y ago

There is a solution to this problem. Websites should allow people to log in with their public key. You can create a new, internet-only identity with a public key. This would be a little cumbersome at first, but if browsers supported this ability, it could be just as easy as logging in with a password. Here's how it could work: There could be metatags that specify where to submit the public key. The website will then send back a message that can only be decrypted with the private key. The browser has the user type in the password to access their private key, decrypts the message, and sends it back to the website. The user has now started a session with their public key. Since you would use the same public key on all websites, your identity would be the same. This would not require a central server like OpenID.

thwarted 15y ago
SSL client certificates are a possibility, but there is very little UX to manage them and present them on a per-site basis.
barkmadley 15y ago
I imagine simply assigning your users a unique key as a cookie would get you 90% of the way there. The chances are good that if a person is returning to your website then they are using the same browser. The 10% you miss are cleared cookies and different browsers/private browsing. This could be seen as a feature however since extra anonymity is gained through existing means.

kylemaxwell 15y ago

Doesn't something using Twitter or Google for authentication fix this? Unlike Facebook, they don't require your real info. (Not that FB does a great job of policing that anyway.)

throwaway32 15y ago
have you tried to create a google account lately? they now require a cellphone number to complete the sign up.

ignifero 15y ago

You can blog anonymously at http://instablogg.com/ http://instablogg.com/