Identity Statement

Full Title

An Identity Statement will return the metadata that backs a canonical Identifier on the web.

Context

There are a variety of existing statements about a Trusted Identity in Cyberspace that can be used to guide the development of a common understanding about what a Identity Statement should contain. Some of those are listed together with the relevant parts of each to this topic.

DID Document

The Decentralized Identity document is under development by the W3C Credential Community. "The entities are identified by decentralized identifiers (DIDs). They may authenticate via proofs (e.g., digital signatures, privacy-preserving biometric protocols, etc.). DIDs point to DID Documents. A DID Document contains a set of service endpoints for interacting with the entity." The primary difference between a DID and a TID is that while both identify real-world entities, the DID entity is presumed to be a live human being with privacy rights while the TID is presumed to be a legal organization of humans that has strictly limited privacy rights.

Security

 DID architecture should enable sufficient security for relying parties to depend on DID Documents for their required level of assurance. 

Proof-based

 DID architecture should enable an entity to provide cryptographic proof of authentication and proof of authorization rights. 

Discoverability

 DID architecture should make it possible for entities to discover DIDs for other entities to learn more about or interact with those entities. 

Interoperability

 DID architecture should use interoperable standards so DID infrastructure can make use of existing tools and software libraries designed for interoperability

Goals

1. Give other providers the information that they need to evaluate the real-world entity that is produced by the Identifier Resolver.
2. Provide an Trusted Identifier for entities on the web that can be trusted by a DID entity before that DID entity release any information about itself.

Implementation

1. The specific format of the Identity Statement can be determined by the first field in the Identifier, for example this implementation discusses the contents of the TID while the DID is determined by the document at this location.