Ramifications of User-Centric vs. Service-Centric Ecosystems
A verifiable claims ecosystem that is user-centric has the following qualities:
Users are positioned in the middle between issuers and consumers.
Users receive and store verifiable claims from issuers through an agent that the issuer does not need to trust.
Users provide verifiable claims to consumers through an agent that consumers needn't trust; they only need to trust issuers.
Verifiable claims are associated with users, not particular services; users can decide how to aggregate claims and manage their own digital identities.
Users can control and own their own identifiers.
Users can control which verifiable claims to use and when.
Users may freely choose and swap out the agents they employ to help them manage and share their verifiable claims.
Does not require users that share verifiable claims to reveal the identity of the consumer to their agent or to issuers.
A verifiable claims ecosystem that is service-centric has the following qualities:
Services are positioned in the middle between issuers, users, and consumers.
Users receive and store verifiable claims from issuers through an agent that the issuer must trust, or they must be the same entity.
Users provide verifiable claims to consumers through an agent that consumers must trust.
Verifiable claims must be associated with services, fracturing a user's digital identity potentially against their desire.
Services control and own their user's identifiers.
User's verifiable claims are locked in agent silos.
Requires users that share verifiable claims to reveal the identity of the consumer to their agent and issuers.
Consumers may have to register with user's agents to consume verifiable claims.