Identity

In The Wired, your identity is yours—not issued by a platform and not revocable by one. The core unit of this identity is the decentralized identifier (DID). This acts as a globally unique handle that you control.

Some example DIDs are:

• did:key:z6MkhaXgBZDvotDkL5257faiztiGiC2QtKLGpbnnEGta2doK.
• did:web:example.com

Methods

There are many possible DID methods you can choose to use. Some of the basic ones are:

did:key—generated entirely from a cryptographic key. No server or domain required. Portable and self-contained, but cannot be rotated if the key is lost.

did:web—tied to a domain you control. More recoverable, and can advertise services (like your data store) through standard web infrastructure.

DID Documents

DIDs resolve to DID documents, which store useful information related to the identity, such as public keys to use for authentication.