Nomad Protocol and Nomadic Identity in the Fediverse

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 06:20:57 -0600 last edited: Mon, 09 Dec 2024 08:55:26 -0600

Nomad

nomad@opennomad.net

A New Home Page for Nomad Protocol

I just created a new home page for the Nomad Protocol website. It explains, in simple terms, what the Nomad Protocol is and why it exists. It also touches upon Nomadic Identity and efforts to port that over the ActivityPub.

Nomad Protocol and Nomadic Identity in the Fediverse

https://opennomad.net/page/nomad/home

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Mon, 09 Dec 2024 06:20:57 -0600 last edited: Mon, 09 Dec 2024 08:55:26 -0600

Juanro

ba31f050a66d6aee73fb258405a44fcffa662e24784e6650944f8fc2d3089427@mostr.pub

👍

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 12:22:31 -0600

⊢≪ Noctilua ≫⊣

noctilua@social.noleron.com

@nomad

I feel interested. I tried reading more about nomadic identity, but still couldnt really figure things out, and I didnt use Nomad-based platforms before. Techdoc is too technical to understand. Could you explain what nomadic identity would look like in practice? What possibilities would AP user have and how would it compare to existing solutions, like Mastodon's account migration?

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 12:39:32 -0600

Der Pepe (nomád) ⁂ ⚝

pepecyb@nomad.fedi-verse.hu

@⊢≪ Noctilua ≫⊣ Although this article is specifically about the nomadic identity as implemented in Hubzilla, it may explain what the basic principle is: https://hub.hubzilla.hu/articles/pepecyb/meta-und-nomaden

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 13:00:02 -0600

⊢≪ Noctilua ≫⊣

noctilua@social.noleron.com

@pepecyb @nomad

The article explained things well, thanks.

By the way... with Hubzilla you actually own your identity (and if you like, all your content). You can export your channel to a file and thus have your identity, your signature and your contacts in one file on your own device. If you like, you can take this identity with you wherever you go on a USB stick...

Huge if true. I grow liking the idea more and more. Having universal protocol support to synchronize and phisically move your internet life from place to place would be awesome.

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 13:39:57 -0600

Der Pepe (nomád) ⁂ ⚝

pepecyb@nomad.fedi-verse.hu

@⊢≪ Noctilua ≫⊣ Perhaps also interesting: https://wedistribute.org/2024/03/activitypub-nomadic-identity/

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 13:57:13 -0600

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@⊢≪ Noctilua ≫⊣

I feel interested. I tried reading more about nomadic identity, but still couldnt really figure things out, and I didnt use Nomad-based platforms before. Techdoc is too technical to understand. Could you explain what nomadic identity would look like in practice?

Maybe this article in the Join the Fediverse Wiki can answer your questions.

What possibilities would AP user have and how would it compare to existing solutions, like Mastodon's account migration?

For end users, nomadic identity is currently only available on Hubzilla and (streams), using two versions of the Nomad protocol which has been geared towards and built around nomadic identity since its very beginnings in 2011. Nomadic identity via ActivityPub is still in closed, non-public testing.

Now, let's suppose the whole Fediverse had nomadic identity at its full extent.

Moving your identity using nomadic identity would go well beyond Mastodon's account migration:

You could take all your toots and boosts with you. They won't be new copies, they will be the originals. Within threads, each one of your toot stays in place. It will only be re-attributed to your new identity. Whoever you've ever mentioned will not be notified about being mentioned again because you toots won't be re-uploaded.
You could take your entire timelines with you.
You could take all your followers and followed with you. On the other sides, your following entries of your followed and your followed entries of your followers would all automagically be changed from your old ID to your new ID without them having to do anything.
You could take all your settings with you.
You could take all your filters with you.
You could take all your mutes and blocks with you.
Your old account will be deleted without leaving a trace. But that's okay because you don't leave any dead links behind, because everything will be re-attributed to your new ID instead of recreated or copied and then deleted.

But that's only the very basics. And it's a side-effect of the real power of nomadic identity: You can have clones of your whole identity with everything that comes with it on other servers. Not dumb copies, but near-real-time, live, hot, bidirectional backups.

A fully nomadic Fediverse will see your identity as only one identity, no matter how many clones you have. That's because your clones have the same identity as your main instance.

You can use the main instance of your identity, and whatever happens there will almost immediately be sent to your clones. You can use any of your clones just as well, and whatever happens there will almost immediately be sent to your main instance and your other clones.

If the server with your main instance goes down, you still have your clones, and you can carry on. You lose nothing.

You can also make one of your clones your new main instance which will demote your previous main instance to a clone. This is useful if the server with your main instance has gone offline and will not come back. You can simply declare one of your clones your new main instance. This will change your ID because it will adopt the domain of the server with your new main instance on it, but all your contacts will be changed accordingly, even on their side.

That is, I'm not quite sure how well nomadic identity will work on stuff that isn't Hubzilla or (streams) or Forte, server applications where your identity is bound to and directly stored in your account.

It works so well on Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte because they don't do that. They don't put your identity, your connections, your content etc. directly into your account. They put it into a container which they call a channel. You can have as many of these channels on the same account as you want. And these channels are fairly easy to clone from server to server.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #NomadicIdentity

Sun, 15 Dec 2024 11:29:47 -0600

Nomad

nomad@opennomad.net

@⊢≪ Noctilua ≫⊣ Thank you for your interest. The current documentation is just a starting point. We plan on expanding it considerably. Some of the resources other have posted are good to look at in the meantime.

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:40:15 -0600

Nomad

nomad@opennomad.net

@⊢≪ Noctilua ≫⊣ I wrote up a document explaining the concepts behind it. It is a high level overview.

https://opennomad.net/page/nomad/concepts

I will keep updating the website with more information. Be sure to follow this channel for more announcements.

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:54:46 -0600

Der Pepe (nomád) ⁂ ⚝

pepecyb@nomad.fedi-verse.hu

@Nomad

I will keep updating the website with more information.

OT but BOT: I think the principle of ‘magic auth’ is also somehow part of the concept.

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 11:39:35 -0600

Nomad

nomad@opennomad.net

@Der Pepe (nomád) ⁂ ⚝ True. According to the original docs by Mike, it was part of Nomadic Identity in the beginning, but he decided to spin it off into its own protocol so that it could be implemented independently of nomadic identity. It is similar to why I mentioned access control without making it a requirement of nomadic identity. Both federated single sign on and access control are natural elements that go with nomadic identity, but the core components can be implemented without it.