12 June 06

ClaimID: how the problem could be solved

Sjors commented on my post from about a week ago called ClaimID – will anyone use it? He said:

So how do you think this problem can be solved?

Which refers to the problem of online identities, and claiming correct information about yourself. I didn’t – and still don’t – think that ClaimID is going to be the right solution to the problem. Rather than whinge some more about it and other solutions, I thought I’d give a possible concept for solving this problem.

Whilst I do agree that a centralised system is the right way about doing things, I think that rather than having to sort out your own information, like you have to do with ClaimID currently, the system should be able find your information for you.

With the increasing popularity of the Semantic Web and Microformats, comments could follow a microformat, which includes a user id – maybe a hexadecimal string a la Firefox extensions, or a specific email address a la Gravatar – which relates to a user profile. I don’t know who exactly would control these profiles, but I believe it could be ran quite similar to how Gravatar or Technorati operates.

This system could also track comments, a bit like the private comment tracking system I’ve made or Co.mments. Maybe if Gravatar and a comment tracking system like Co.mments combine forces, we could see a very useful service for finding information about people.

I feel a centralised online profile system could be of some use to a lot of people. I would find a comment tracking system that other people could view to be quite useful. As I said in my previous post, the only people who might be worried about it would be the same people who ‘troll’ and post bad comments. Who knows, maybe having a system like this would encourage people into thinking more about their comments.

The problem of ClaimID, or similar services – for me anyway – is that you need to be proactive with your information. I’m far far too lazy to be proactive. The easier it is to keep updated the better, the more I would be inclined to use it.

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