I've mentioned in the past the number of people Googling to the site to find information about felony offender registries and the official Tennesse (a misspelling of Tennessee) state site. Since then, the new common search is for the Tennesse...

Summary: What is decentralized identity and why is it important? My attempt at a simple explanation.

In Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, nah, Alan Mayo references my recent blog post, Decentralized Identity Comes of Age, and says:

My challenge to the decentralization community is for them (someone) to explain how it works in relatively simple and reasonable terms. I say relative because identity is not simple, so we should not expect simple solutions.

This post is my attempt to do that for Alan and others.

Identity is how we recognize, remember, react to, and interact with other people, organizations, and services. Put another way, identity is about relationships. Online we suffer from a proximity problem. Since we're not near the parties we want to have relationships with, our natural means of recognizing, remembering, and interacting with others can't be used. Digital identity systems are meant to provide us with the means of creating online relationships.

Traditional identity systems have not served us well because they are owned and controlled by companies who build them for their own purposes. The relationships they support are anemic and transactional. We can't use them for any purpose except what their owner's allow.

Decentralized identity systems¹ on the other hand allow you to create online relationships with any person, organization, or service you choose and give you the tools to manage and use those relationships. They help you recognize, remember, react to, and interact with them. The most important tool is a decentralized identity wallet. The world of decentralized identity wallets is still young, but organizations like the Linux Foundation's Open Wallet Foundation give me hope that useful, interoperable wallets are a tool we'll all be able to use soon. They are as foundational to decentralized identity as a browser is to the web.

Besides helping you manage peer-to-peer relationships with others online, wallets hold verifiable credentials, the digital analog to the credentials and cards you carry in a physical wallet. One of the most important aspects of digital relationships is providing information about yourself to those you interact with. Sometimes that information can come from you—it's self-asserted—but many times the other party wants to reliably know what others say about you. For example, if you establish a banking relationship, the bank is legally obligated to verify things like your name and address independent of what you say. Decentralized identity wallets allow you to prove things about yourself using credentials others provide to you. At the same time, they protect your privacy by limiting the information disclosed and forgoing the need for the party you're interacting with to directly contact others to verify the information you provide.

In summary, decentralized identity systems allow you to create digital relationships with other parties independently, without relying on any other organization or service. These relationships are direct, private, and secure. They also provide the means for you to prove things about yourself inside these relationships so that even though you're operating at a distance, you and the other party can have confidence in the relationship's authenticity.

How Does It Work

The preceding paragraphs say what decentralized identity is, and provide its benefits, but don't say how it works. Alan and others will likely want a few more details. Everything I describe below is handled by the wallet. The person using the wallet doesn't need to have any more knowledge of how they work than the operator of a browser needs to understand HTTP and HTML.

The foundation of a peer-to-peer, decentralized online relationship is an autonomic identifier like a peer DID. Identifiers are handles that someone else can use to identify someone or something else online. Peer DIDs can be created by a wallet at will, they're free, and they're self-certifying (i.e., there's no need for a third party). A relationship is created when two identity wallets create and exchange peer DIDs with each other on behalf of their owners. Peer DIDs allow the parties to the relationship to exchange private, secure messages.

There are four primary interaction patterns that wallets undertake when exchanging messages:

1. DID Authentication which uses the DIDs to allow each party to authenticate the other
2. Single-Party Credential Authorization where the same party issues and verifies the credential.
3. Multi-Party Authorization where the credential issuer and verifier are different parties.
4. Generalized Trustworthy Data Transfer which uses a collection of credentials to aid the wallet owner in completing online workflows.

Verifiable credentials make heavy use of cryptography to provide not only security and privacy, but also confidence that the credential data is authentic. This confidence is based on four properties a properly designed credential presentation protocol provides:

1. The identifier of the credential issuer
2. Proof that the credential is being presented by the party is was issued to
3. Proof that the credential has not been tampered with
4. The revocation status of the credential

The credential presentation can do all this while only disclosing the information needed for the interaction and without the verifier having to contact the credential issuer. Not having to contact the issuer ensures the credential can be used in situations with poor connectivity, that the issuer needn't be online, and preserves the credential subject's privacy about where the credential is being used.

A properly designed credential exchange protocol has four important properties:

1. The system is decentralized and contextual. There is no central authority for all credentials. Every party can be an issuer, an owner, and a verifier. The system can be adapted to any country, any industry, any community, any set of credentials, any set of trust relationships.
2. Issuers are free to determine what credentials to issue and whether or not to revoke them.
3. Wallet owners are free to choose which credentials to carry and where and when they get shared. While some verifiers require a specific credential—such as a customs agent requiring a passport—others will accept a range of credentials. Therefore owners can decide which credentials to carry in their wallet based on the verifiers with whom they interact.
4. Verifiers make their own decisions about which credentials to accept. For example, a bar you are trying to enter may accept any credential you have about your date of birth. This means some credentials (e.g., passports, driving licenses, birth certificates) may be much more useful than just for the original purpose for which they were issued.

These properties make a decentralized identity system self sovereign.

Why is Decentralized Identity Important?

Decentralized identity systems are designed to provide people with control, security, and privacy while enhancing the confidence we have in our online relationships. Some time ago, I wrote the following. I think it's an apt way to close any discussion of decentralized identity because unless we keep our eyes on the goal, we'll likely take shortcuts in implementation that fail to live up to their promise.

Presently, people don't have operational relationships anywhere online.² We have plenty of online relationships, but they are not operational because we are prevented from acting by their anemic natures. Our helplessness is the result of the power imbalance that is inherent in bureaucratic relationships. The solution to the anemic relationships created by administrative identity systems is to provide people with the tools they need to operationalize their self-sovereign authority and act as peers with others online. Peer-to-peer relationships are the norm in the physical world. When we dine at a restaurant or shop at a store in the physical world, we do not do so under the control of some administrative system. Rather, we act as embodied agents and operationalize our relationships, whether they be long-lived or nascent, by acting for ourselves. Any properly designed decentralized identity system must provide people with the tools they need to be "embodied" in the digital world and act autonomously.

Time and again, various people have tried to create decentralized marketplaces or social networks only to fail to gain traction. These systems fail because they are not based on a firm foundation that allows people to act in relationships with sovereign authority in systems mediated through protocol rather than by the whims of companies. We have a fine example of a protocol mediated system in the internet, but we've failed to take up the daunting task of building the same kind of system for identity. Consequently, when we act, we do so without firm footing or sufficient leverage.

Ironically, the internet broke down the walled gardens of CompuServe and Prodigy with a protocol-mediated metasystem, but surveillance capitalism has rebuilt them on the web. No one could live an effective life in an amusement park. Similarly, we cannot function as fully embodied agents in the digital sphere within the administrative systems of surveillance capitalists, despite their attractions. The emergence of self-sovereign identity, agreements on protocols, and the creation of metasystems to operationalize them promises a digital world where decentralized interactions create life-like online experiences. The richer relationships that result from properly designed decentralized identity systems promise an online future that gives people the opportunity to act for themselves as autonomous human beings and supports their dignity so that they can live an effective online life.

Notes

1. I prefer the term self-sovereign to decentralized because it describes the goal rather than the implementation, but I'll stick with decentralized here. All self-sovereign identity systems are decentralized. Not all decentralized identity systems are self-sovereign.
2. The one exception I can think of to this is email. People act through email all the time in ways that aren't intermediated by their email provider. Again, it's a result of the architecture of email, set up over four decades ago and the culture that architecture supports.

Photo Credit: Young Woman Using a Wallet from DALL-E (public domain) Prompt: draw a rectangular picture of a young woman using a wallet.

Tags: identity ssi decentralized+identity verifiable+credentials

James Devitt-NYU, Futurity, Nov 13, 2024

This article challenges us to think more deeply on the distinction between knowledge and memory. The claim made here is that parts of the body - the kidney, say - can replicate the massed-spaced effect, retaining information over time, which is the same thing we see when connections are formed between neurons in the brain. But is that the same as forming a memory? I have Haglund's Deformity, a 'memory' of my many years of walking in bad shows. That seems more like "what our pancreas remembers about the pattern of our past meals to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose" and rather less like "knowing Paris is the capital of France". We can interpret these 'memories' as retained information, but it's not clear this is in any way any sort of knowledge.

Alexandra Mihai, The Educationalist, Nov 13, 2024

Interesting commentary on the state of research in educational technology today and what's missing. What's missing? Research that links theory through technology to needs and practices (so I summarize). Thus, Alexandra Mihai looks for "insights into how educational technology can enhance the learning process" and "how technology can contribute to addressing the increasing diversity of our learner population." Mihai also considers the impact of AI on the research process, suggesting "it's so important to maintain our agency in the research and writing process." I don't think education as a discipline has come to terms enough with how people actually learn, which (to me) explain the persistence of the sort of teacher- and institution-focused approaches Mihai asks for here.

Read to the end to see a cat who is definitely asleep and not up to ANYTHING suspicious… In today’s edition: Cheers to the WordPress Plugin Review Team for digging themselves out of one hell of a backlog. HeroPress celebrates folks who have used WordPress to make the world a better place, and we’re here […]

While many of us were focused on the election, BYD announced that the YangWang U9 went 391.94 km/h (243 mph). Auto-translate under subtitles helps. This was not a one-off. No track-only equipment (other than a roll cage, for safety reasons), rockets, or gimmicks. It was a street-legal car using street ... [continued]

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With the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic situation, the shopping trends around the world have changed. We have become dependent on e-commerce sites to fulfill our desires to shop and receive essentials. The year 2020 was dominated by interesting trends from the world of e-commerce. If you are planning a venture in the e-commerce domain or already […]

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Google has begun rolling out the third core update for the year, the November 2024 core update. This update started to roll out on November 11, 2024 at around 3:30 pm and will take about two weeks to complete rolling out. This seems like a typical core update, without any new specifics about what changed or what improved.

We knew this update was coming - and it finally arrived yesterday afternoon. Google also told us not to expect HCU victim sites to recover with this update.

So far, we are seeing some folks suggest their rankings went down even more. But the vast majority of people are saying they are not seeing movement as of yet, as of the time I published this story. Of course, I will keep track of the chatter and let you know what people are seeing over the coming days. In addition, the volatility tracking tools are mostly all showing normal volatility - so maybe this has not kicked in as of yet.

And yes, it was released on the Veterans Day US holiday, but it seems like it was released well before the big holiday shopping season, post-Thanksgiving holiday.

Google posted this update on LinkedIn and X and wrote:

Today we released the November 2024 core update to Google Search.

This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.

We'll update our ranking release history page in the near future, and update it when the rollout is complete. For more information about core updates, please see here.

The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete.

Google November 2024 Core Update Quick Facts:

Here are the most important things that we know right now in short form:

• Name: Google November 2024 Broad Core Update
• Launched: November 11, 2024 at around 3:30 pm ET
• Rollout: Will take about two weeks to roll out
• Targets: It looks at all types of content
• Penalty: It is not a penalty, it promotes or rewards great web pages
• Global: This is a global update impacting all regions, in all languages.
• Impact: The normal core update stuff around helpful content.
• Discover: Core updates impact Google Discover and other features, also feature snippets and more.
• Recover: If you were hit by this, then you will need to look at your content and see if you can do better with Google's core update advice.
• Refreshes: Google will do periodic refreshes to this algorithm but may not communicate those updates in the future. Maybe this is what we saw the past couple of weeks or all those unconfirmed Google updates.

Google November 2024 Core Update Details

Google didn't say much specific about this November 2024 core update. Google did say, "This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search."

So it seems like it is more of the same:

• Show more content that people find genuinely useful.
• Show less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.

Yes, a lot of joking in the SEO community about these statements. Yep, it sounds a lot like the helpful content update statements... Yes, the helpful content update is no more, it's part of core updates now, in some sense...

Previous Broad Core Updates

Here is a list of the most recent core updates we've seen since Google started to confirm them. Previously we nicknamed them Phantom updates or unconfirmed updates.

• November 2024 Core update: November 11, 2024 and will take about two weeks to roll out.
• August 2024 Core Update : August 15, 2024 through September 3, 2024
• March 2024 Core Update : March 5, 2024 through April 19, 2024
• November 2023 Core Update : November 2, 2023 through November 28, 2023
• October 2023 Core Update: October 5, 2023 through October 19, 2023
• August 2023 Core Update: August 22, 2023 through September 7, 2023
• March 2023 Core Update: March 15, 2023 through March 28, 2023
• September 2022 Core Update: September 12, 2022 through September 26, 2022
• May 2022 Core Update: May 25, 2022 through June 9, 2022
• November 2021 Core Update: November 17, 2021 through November 30, 2021
• July 2021 Core Update: July 1, 2021 through July 12, 2021
• June 2021 Core Update: June 2, 2021 through June 12, 2021
• December 2020 Core Update: December 3, 2020 through December 16, 2020
• May 2020 Core Update: May 4, 2020 through May 18, 2020
• January 2020 Core Update: January 13, 2020 through mostly January 17, 2020
• September 2019 Core Update: September 24, 2019
• Google June 2019 Core Update: June 3, 2019 through June 8, 2019

Previous Helpful Content Update Impact

Here is the list of the previous Google helpful content updates:

• Septemebr 14, 2023 - September 2023 Google helpful content update - completing on Septmeber 28, 2023
• December 5, 2022 - December 2022 Google helpful content update, completing on January 12, 2023
• August 25, 2022 - August 2022 (original) Google helpful content update, completing on September 9, 2022

Previous Unconfirmed Updates

We had a ton of unconfirmed updates between the August 2024 and November 2024 core update. I won't list them all, but you can scan them over here.

As a reminder, Google did tell us that an search update is coming soon. The last time we reported on an update was when I named it the Google Election 2024 unconfirmed update and before that was the Google Halloween 2024 Google search update and then before that on October 23, 24 and 26 and 27th and before that, October 19th and 20th volatility and then on October 15th, October 10th and then before that on October 2nd which lasted a couple of days. The Google August 2024 core update started on August 15th and officially completed on September 3rd. But it was still super volatile the day after it completed and also weeks after it completed and it has not cooled.

We saw big signals on and around September 6th, September 10th or so and maybe around September 14th. We also saw movement around September 18th, last weekend and Septmeber 25th and September 28th or so.

Google Tracking Tools On November 2024 Core Update (So Far)

Here is what these Google Search volatility tools are showing so far; keep in mind that this update can take about two weeks to fully roll out. And so far, the tools are mostly showing normal volatility but that might change in the coming days.

Semrush:

SimilarWeb:

Sistrix:

Wincher:

Cognitive SEO:

Accuranker:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Mozcast:

Mangools:

Algoroo:

SERPstat:

Data For SEO:

SEO Chatter

It just started rolling out last night, so the chatter is early, just like the tools:

Just the reminder I needed to "focus on quality content"'"again. Thanks, Google, I'd almost forgotten!

So by quality, do you mean similar to what previous core updates focused on or is there a specific change to look out for?

In search of "quality" and "usefulness" in the age of generative-AI-driven SERPs.

It will take 2 weeks to complete and 2 years to recover?

Asking for friends.

Fasten your seatbelts, Google has launched the November 2024 core update.

This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search

Good luck to the people still fighting.

Traffic on the very low tide since a week (billable visits), impression seem stable according search console, CTR dropping.

Luckily I'm busy with something not Google related !

Traffic Down :)

Swings on my personal results have been wild over last few days actually. Like normal, but on steroids!

Searched 150+ queries since morning unrelated to my niche...each of these queries were answered by AIO in a very organized form. So...worth not keeping hopes after this

It's been very quiet over the last few days. One article of mine gained a small bit of traction, but a couple of others barely saw any traffic at all. Not sure if it's the same for others.

Recently the fluctuations were too great. Either business as usual or downward. I am seeing more PAA boxes. More YouTube at the top. Other than that I do not see much.

Just more downward movement ಠ' ï'µ' à² 

Yes, lots of keywords back on page one, including some near the top, but I doubt it will result in a traffic increase because there are AIOs everywhere.

It's just a mess. shuffling, even more AI overviews for shopping comparison articles.

Also some local SEO chatter, and core updates do impact local rankings:

Seeing movements this early for local organic ranking for the following sectors (mostly Canada): Landscaping, HVAC, Psychologist, local furniture maker, renovation contractors.

Here we go! The November 2024 broad core update is rolling out. There's been a ton of volatility since the August core update completed. Let's see what Google has in store for us. Stay tuned. I'll probably share my "Core Update Notes" each day based on what I'm seeing in the'... https://t.co/T9rks7tAMP

'" Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 11, 2024

OK here we go. A new Google core update just launched.

If you were impacted by a previous core update (i.e. August, March, November, October) then often it takes another core update, or sometimes a few, before a site sees recovery.
ð¤ https://t.co/7XHVWBRbbo

'" Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 11, 2024

These announcements are as much as uninteresting as uninformative.

'Hey, look! We did something' https://t.co/BcK4rzTuN6

'" Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) November 11, 2024

Golly, I hope Reddit will be ok

'" Harad (@harad) November 11, 2024

Good luck, folks!

Not expecting anything this end, mostly because I only fully finished my site move around seven minutes ago. ð' https://t.co/MGfUyA9GOP

'" Wesley Copeland (@Wesley_Copeland) November 11, 2024

Sad state when my first thought is: "wonder what they've screwed up this time". https://t.co/jtYZvXPZgM

'" Martin MacDonald (@searchmartin) November 11, 2024

Also later last night I asked if anyone is seeing movement:

Anyone seeing any movement yet? https://t.co/qttLlYNeU1

'" Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 12, 2024

While most say it is too early to tell, which I 100% agree with, here are the ones that say they are seeing movement:

I see some movement, but it's hard to attribute it to the typical movements we see or this core update. Will check more sites/data tomorrow morning to confirm.

'" Vlad Rappoport (@vladrpt) November 12, 2024

It affected my website from yesterday, today zero click, that means this update will harm more than the previous updates. We expecting more damage.
I'm afraid to say that, but don't be happy with any update again. Get a new job or go to Pinterest or the new ChatGPT search.

'" Ameer Belal (@NFT_Domains) November 12, 2024

Slightly up

'" Lizzy's Small World (@AVerySmallWorld) November 12, 2024

Yes, ranking down

'" बबलà¥' à¤à¥à¤®à¤¾à¤° ð®ð³' (@seobabloo) November 12, 2024

I saw a 15% spike yesterday evening and night. So far this morning it seems the spike didn't last.

'" Brian Spears (@BrianHTX20) November 12, 2024

It is probably too early to tell right now but we will keep you posted on what the SEO community is seeing over the coming days.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Black Hat World, Local Search Forum, X and LinkedIn.

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The Honda Motocompacto has to be one of the weirdest e-bikes we’ve ever seen. It’s not just the strange skinny shape, it’s also the fact that it doesn’t appear to offer any real advantage over an electric scooter except a rudimentary seat. Just 3.7 inches wide, it’s made out of aluminum and plastic, and boasts a max speed of 12 mph and a range of 15 miles per 3 hour charge. While we may scoff at the quirky design, there’s...

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When dreaming up new business ideas, some of the most boring businesses are often overlooked. However, it’s the boring business ideas that can often be the most sustainable and profitable. The Best Boring Businesses to Start This Year All of…

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Gen Z is well known for being social media savvy. But not all platforms are created equal, and with new trends emerging it can be hard to keep track of where Gen Z is spending its time. In this blog, we’ll walk through the apps where you’re most likely to find this cohort scrolling, liking, and viewing, covering the following topics: 

• What social media app has the highest reach among Gen Z? 
• What social media app has grown the fastest among Gen Z?
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If you have ever felt like the right words in an argument simply won't come, perhaps you should read these thoughts.

The heart can see what the eye cannot and can take this unseen things into itself. Fr. Stephen looks at the possibility of joy even when the eye sees nothing joyful.

To know God is the essence of the Christian life according to Scripture - though how we know God is sometimes difficult to describe. Fr. Stephen looks at the moment of hesitation with the words "nevertheless" and "and yet" and the room they provide for such knowledge to be acquired.

Fr. Stephen looks at the implications for the "end of the world" found in Christ's preaching and incarnation, and what they mean for us.

Fr. Stephen speaks about the difference between feast days as mere events of the calendar and the reality of the Kingdom of God that awaits us in the Feasts.

The goal of the Christian life is true knowledge of God (Jn. 17:3). Fr. Stephen speaks about the mysterious character of this knowledge.

Fr. Stephen looks at several of Christ's difficult sayings and what they mean. Why is it permissible to call a priest "Father"?

Fr. Stephen reflects on the complexity of the human heart through the work of Dostoevsky.

Father Stephen Freeman argues that the near-unchanging shape of the Liturgy is part of the "givenness" of our lives. Like many other things in the Orthodox faith, it imparts a stability. Learning to embrace this is important.

Fr. Stephen Freeman looks at the end of time and how it is thought about in Orthodox theology. It is profoundly important in our every day life.

We often imagine that kings and generals and great battles are the turning points of history. Fr. Stephen Freeman points us towards much smaller things and tells us why.

Fr. Stephen Freeman looks at the role of knowledge in our Orthodox faith, including the importance of what we do not know.

Fr. Stephen makes a distinction between the truth of the Christian faith and the many distortions and misperceptions of the Christian faith that surround us. He makes the case that we need only defend the search for the true and living God.

Fr. Stephen looks at the words "relationship" and "fellowship" and notes that they are very "weak" translations of the Greek word koinonia in Scripture. He suggests how we should understand this word in its true, Orthodox sense.

As the AI chatbot's advanced conversational capabilities continue to generate buzz, here are detailed answers to your most-asked questions.

Are you ready to immerse yourself in everything ChatGPT Search has to offer? This quick trick may be for you.

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Today we're asking what is time, and we're looking at blessed Augustine's Confessions, which features one of the most famous reflections on the philosophy of time. Augustine is trying to solve the "problem of time": why is creation temporal if it comes from an eternal God? Tune in to see if he resolves his dilemma!

oday, I'm talking with friend and author Angela Doll Carlson about living the liturgical year. From logistics and practicalities to marriage and community, there's a little something for everyone in this episode (yes, even men!).

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Join Bill Marianes as he talks again with Wall Street Journal Business bestselling author Jim Huling, one of the co-authors of The 4 Disciplines of Execution. They discuss how each of us can find answers to the questions, “Why are you here on this Earth?” and “What is the Purpose of Your Life?” and explore several specific successful models to discover your specific calling, purpose, and WHY in order to answer those questions.

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