iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Christopher Allen

Paul Fuxjäger @cypherhippie.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

here's a copy on YT: "Bringing Self Sovereign Identities to the Masses via ATproto - #ATmosphereConf 2026" www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro2b... -- Also check recent stuff by @christophera.bsky.social : developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/202... revisitingssi.com

youtube.com

Bringing Self Sovereign Identities to the Masses via ATproto - ATmosphereConf 2026

YouTube video by AT Protocol Development, Tech Talks, and Events

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Has the concept of self-sovereignty affected your career or life? Tell me your story!

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

The goal isn't to settle these questions. It's to make the principles worthy of the next ten years.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Ten years ago I asked for help refining ten principles. Today I'm asking again — this time, for sixteen. Push back. Sharpen. Tell me what I'm still missing. Talk with me at IIW, join the conversation in the W3C CCG, at RevisitingSSI.com, or at GDC in Geneva next September.

revisitingssi.com

Self-Sovereign Identity: Ten Years Later

Welcome to the Revisiting Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) Principles series of online workshops.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

The risk if these principles don't take hold: Our devices serve the platform, not you. Keys technically yours, but effectively theirs. Our wallets require permission. Identity tied to our every transaction. Exit costs higher than staying. None of this is just about identity.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Today I offer a 2026 revision: 16 principles in four layers. Six are new — Inalienability, Cognitive Liberty, Relational Autonomy, Stewardship, Equity, Anti-Coercive Design. Each names a hole the original left open. www.blockchaincommons.com/dispatches/s...

blockchaincommons.com

Dispatches of a Trust Architect: Ten Years of Self-Sovereign Identity

Ten years ago this week — on April 26, 2016 — I posted “The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity” on my Life with Alacrity blog. I had been thinking for a while about what a digital identity movement would...

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

That article offered the original ten principles: Existence, Control, Access, Transparency, Persistence, Portability, Interoperability, Consent, Minimalization, Protection. They became the foundation of an industry. They weren't wrong — just incomplete. www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/the-...

lifewithalacrity.com

The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity

Today I head out to a month-long series of events associated with identity: I’m starting with the 22st (!) Internet Identity Workshop next week; then I’...

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

I was preparing to speak at ID2020, the first UN Conference on Digital Identity. I wanted to integrate the cypherpunks' 90s concerns about digital identity with lessons from blockchain. Coindesk picked up the article. The term spread fast.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Do you use the term "self-sovereign"—for identity, for keys, for your wallet? If you do, it was ten years ago today I chose this term, using it to describe an inalienable right to control your own digital life. We've learned much in the last decade, so I'm offering an update.🧵…

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

She draws on Spiekermann & Pallas (2006): "the right to the last word" — people must be able to overrule autonomous system behavior. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Twenty years later, we still don't have it. Time to make it a design requirement.

papers.ssrn.com

Technology Paternalism – Wider Implications of Ubiquitous Computing

Ubiquitous Computing technologies will have a wide impact on our daily lives in the future. Currently, most debates about social implications of these technolog

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I think "technology paternalism" names the diagnosis. It names an anti-pattern. "Coercion resistance" names the treatment. Both do more work than "privacy" because they name the mechanism, not just the domain.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

This maps to work we're doing in the Revisiting SSI initiative — our four "coercion-prevention" lenses. • Design → coercion resistance • Algorithmic → self-coercion • Infrastructural → choice architecture • Protective → binding commitments revisitingssi.com

revisitingssi.com

Self-Sovereign Identity: Ten Years Later

Welcome to the Revisiting Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) Principles series of online workshops.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Her four countermeasures — the test for any system: • Can you override the decision? • Can you contest it? • Can you inspect the reasoning? • Can you leave without losing everything? If no to any: that's paternalism, not protection.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Infrastructural Paternalism: your credentials and relationships accumulate in one ecosystem. You can technically leave. You leave as nobody. In my upcoming "Architecture of Autonomy" work I call this inversion "Exit → Erasure". Departure as digital death.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Protective Paternalism does the most damage to people with the least power. Frame restrictions as safety and challenging them becomes unacceptable. The people who can least afford to look unreasonable stay silent.

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Four forms, each at a different layer: • Design — dark patterns, buried alternatives • Algorithmic — filter bubbles, pre-selection • Infrastructural — lock-in where leaving means losing everything • Protective — safety framing that makes objection feel irresponsible

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Martina Kolpondinos just named it: Technology Paternalism. Systems that pre-decide your choices — justified as safety, efficiency, or protection. No bad intentions required. Just decisions embedded before anyone questions them. kosmaconnect.net/interactionblog/technologypaternalism

kosmaconnect.net

Technology Paternalism: AI, Algorithms, Digital Identity, and the Role of Self-Sovereign Identity | Kosma Connect

From dark patterns and recommender systems to identity verification infrastructure and AI agents, digital systems increasingly shape what people can see, access, and do. This article explores technolo...

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I'm always seeking out the right words for what digital systems do to people. "Privacy" means something different in every room, and has become so overloaded it has become meaningless. "Censorship resistance" sounds like it's only about speech or money. Neither names the mechanism. 🧵…

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I do advocacy work to make sure digital identity legislation is human-centric and rights-first. My deepest work has been in Wyoming and Switzerland. You can support this advocacy by supporting @blockchaincommons.com. github.com/sponsors/Blo...

github.com

Sponsor @BlockchainCommons on GitHub Sponsors

Blockchain Commons is a "not-for-profit" social benefit corporation committed to open source , advocating for the creation of open, interoperable, secure & compassionate digital infrastructure to e...

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Utah joins Wyoming in building a model for identity legislation that treats people as principals, not products. If you're in another state, point your legislators at SB 275 and Wyoming's SF39. /7

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

That's what we need to watch for now. Beware platforms bearing gifts. The Googles and Facebooks will push for carve-outs that make the Duty of Loyalty optional. Regulatory capture is the real fight going forward. /6

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

And these aren't guidelines — they're statutory obligations. They can't be waived by clickwrap. As long as carve-outs aren't created in future sessions, the Duty of Loyalty is protected. /5

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

But the Duty of Loyalty is what really caught my eye. Wallet providers, verifiers, and relying parties must work in the "best interests of an individual." Compare that to today, where you create an identity on Facebook or Google and they extract from it mercilessly. SB 275 says no. /4

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Other rights require architectural transparency, preserve management control for the user, disallow state surveillance, and require selective disclosure. You choose what to disclose. You can verify your age without handing over your birth date. /3

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

SB 275 has a digital bill of rights for identity. The first entry recognizes that identity is innate to the individual, not bestowed by the state. That's pretty close to the existence principle from my self-sovereign identity principles a decade ago. Great to see it in statute. /2

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

(1)conflict with the best interests of an individual; (2)take advantage of or otherwise exploit an individual; (3)result in a disproportionate risk to an individual; (4)are to an individual's detriment; or (5)cause harm to an individual."

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

"**Duty of loyalty** The department, a digital wallet provider, a verifier, a relying party, and a digital guardian shall refrain from practices or activities related to the processing of an individual's identity attributes that: …

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

But it is the addition of "Duty of Loyalty", which like Wyoming's "Principal Authority" evokes agency law, which as I understand it (but IANAL) makes it hard to use contract law to abrogate these duties…

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

👍 The new Utah #SEDI draft SB0275 has the essence of my first #SSI principle that I wrote 10 years ago: "(1) An individual possesses an individual identity innate to the individual's existence and independent of the state, which identity is fundamental and inalienable." le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/...

le.utah.gov

SB0275

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Reposted by Christopher Allen

Erlend Sogge Heggen @erlend.sh · 17/11/2025

Next year it’ll be 10 years since @christophera.bsky.social wrote The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity along with a definition and 10 principles of SSI. A group is now being convened to refine these principles. Hope to see some atproto folks get involved here, including @bnewbold.net & co.

lifewithalacrity.com

Announcing the 10-Year SSI Revision Project

In 2016, I published The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity and with it proposed ten foundational principles for digital identity systems. These principles...

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Support our work to create infrastructure that can't be taken from us. Become a GitHub Sponsor of Blockchain Commons. Help us build autonomous infrastructure for coordination, collaboration, and identity beyond Bitcoin. [19/19] github.com/sponsors/Blo...

github.com

Sponsor @BlockchainCommons on GitHub Sponsors

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

These aren't Bitcoin-specific features. They're the architecture of autonomy itself. QR codes, Bluetooth, threshold signatures, Gordian Envelope, XIDs. Technologies that enable Exodus Protocols for coordination, identity, and collaboration beyond value transfer. [18/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

A journalist stores sources in a Gordian Club. One permit for their key, SSKR shares to their editors. Even if seized, encrypted information is protected. A protest group coordinates when messaging app becomes surveillance. Immigrants have credentials with no phone-home. [17/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Gordian Clubs use a permit system where different people access the same content different ways: private keys, XIDs, or secret shares. Multiple permits mean resilience. Transport neutral: internet, thumb drive, QR code in a newspaper, even @Blockstream Satellite. [16/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Gordian Clubs shows these principles: an “Exodus Protocol” built on Autonomous Cryptographic Objects—self-contained, cryptographically secure, resilient when infrastructure fails. Unencrypted data isn’t safe; centralized servers aren’t reliable. [15/19] www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musi...

blockchaincommons.com

Musings of a Trust Architect: The Gordian Club

ABSTRACT: Unencrypted data isn’t safe. Centralized servers aren’t reliable. Gordian Club offer an alternative: the autonomous cryptographic object (ACO). Self-contained objects protected by cryptograp...

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Principle 5: work offline and across time. Bitcoin transactions can be signed offline and broadcast later. The protocol doesn't care about internet connectivity for core operations. True autonomy works with whatever channels remain available when coercion denies others. [14/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Principle 4: preserve exit through portability. Bitcoin keys work in any wallet. Open protocol means freedom to switch implementations. Without the ability to walk away, consent collapses into coercion. Lock-in is the opposite of sovereignty. [13/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Principle 3: make constraints load-bearing. Bitcoin can’t reverse transactions, so your funds can’t be seized by fiat. Rule changes require consensus, so your holdings can’t be inflated away. What can’t be changed can’t be weaponized. [12/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Principle 2: encode rules in mathematics, not policy. Math doesn’t discriminate, take sides, or change under pressure. Cryptographic proof replaces administrative decision-making: verification is deterministic. Code can be coerced, but mathematics cannot. [11/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Principle 1: operate without external dependencies. If it requires permission to operate, it's not autonomous. If it stops working when a company fails or a government objects, it's infrastructure built on sand. We need self-contained cryptographic objects. [10/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

In my new Musings article, I lay out five principles required to build Exodus Protocols. They define what makes infrastructure truly autonomous and resilient against centralized control or sudden disappearance. [9/19] www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musi...

blockchaincommons.com

Musings of a Trust Architect: The Exodus Protocol

ABSTRACT: Digital infrastructure is built on sand due to its control by centralized entities, most of which are focused on profit over service. We need Exodus Protocol services that build infrastructu...

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Unfortunately Bitcoin only creates an Exodus Protocol for value transfer. We need the same architectural patterns for coordination, collaboration, and identity. We need to protect activists, empower journalists, enable disaster response, preserve long-term archives. [8/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Bitcoin is an Exodus Protocol: a system that frees us from external control by creating infrastructure without infrastructure. Miners can come and go. Transactions can be signed air-gapped and transferred using QR codes. It's generally hard to censor, unthinkable to kill. [7/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Bitcoin demonstrated something profound: fundamental capabilities can exist as mathematical rights rather than centralized privileges. When your ability to transact depends on a bank's approval, it's not a right but permission. Bitcoin restored transaction as a right. [6/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

So how do we create digital infrastructure that can't be taken from us? Bitcoin answered that question. For fifteen years it has demonstrated autonomous infrastructure that works. No servers to shut down, no administrators to pressure, no companies whose failure matters. [5/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

By now everyone has a story of infrastructural loss. Google Plus circles. Internet radio. MP3s. This pattern has a name: #enshittification. A service becomes essential, companies collect rent, reduce features, increase surveillance, then kill it when profits fade. [4/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Advocacy and activist groups blockaded by Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal without charge or trial. Platforms locking out regions citing “legal risk.” Canadian truckers with frozen accounts, professionals losing workspaces overnight. Access became permission. [3/19]

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Christopher Allen @christophera.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

A decade ago my students lost their collaborative learning infrastructure overnight when Yahoo sold del.icio.us and Google killed Reader. No warning. No migration. Gone. A story of the systematic transformation of rights into revokable privileges. [2/19]

del.icio.us

Welcome to del.icio.us. Please log in. username: password: (forgot password?)

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