Nostr's identity system is *the killer app*. It gives power to the user. Having a portable identity means devs can't lock you into their app. If they stop improving, or don't do what users want they die.
Discussion
We're against digital IDs, but nostr works great as one...
😅🤝
Seriously, this is slightly worrying. For example, imagine a future where you will need a Nostr identity, tied to your real identity, in order to work. Apart from being decentralized, and thereby not being a honeypot for governments and regular criminals in the same way, what's the difference to what's going on in Britain now? I mean, it's less bad, but it's still control.
Lol 15000 people use Nostr daily. This is so not worth worrying about 🤣
Why would they choose Nostr for this realistically? It will be a service through Palantir, not an open source permission less network no one uses.
Even though it certainly looks like it, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not just a troll for one round of reply: I was implying a future where Nostr is much bigger than today, used by pretty much everyone. A future where most of today's Nostriches/Bitcoiners, if still alive, think they've won because bitcoin is the main currency, Nostr is the main protocol for social media and much more, there are no centralized digital ID:s in most places, etc.
If there are no centralized digital id and anyone can use Nostr to make a new one whenever they want, it will have served it's purpose, and we have won.
Have we, if one linked to your actual identity is required for you to work?
Where is a Nostr identity required to work?
In the future I was referring to. I don't know by whom, maybe government, maybe some kind of employers' union. Maybe it's one of those things that just happen in a bad way by themselves, even though nobody really wants them, because it comes packaged with some benefit that seems to overrule the bad thing among the masses, yet lead to serious consequences later, such as the surveillance and locked-down-ness of smartphones.
So you don't know what it will actually be, or who will enforce it, just that it might be bad?
I'm not sure I understand what your point even is, or how it relates to Nostr specifically.
What are you actually trying to get at? Having an identity at all is a problem? How is that unique to Nostr, when those systems already exist today, and have for decades?
Given your question for a point, I guess you want an actionable answer. There is none. I'm not suggesting to abandon or change Nostr, it isn't a technical problem, but a societal and/or governmental one, depending on circumstances.
Having an identity isn't necessarily a problem, being forced to verify it for every occasion is. The example of jobs was to tie it with the current British example.
For a better example, read the post I wrote on Stacker News a while ago, BankID - evil made easy: https://stacker.news/items/402596
Exactly, this has nothing to do with Nostr specifically, hence I won't waste my time worrying about a theoretical future that exists in your head.
There are things *actually happening* that are more important. Paranoid fantasizing only wastes time and energy.
BankID is happening in Sweden, has been for over a decade, more and more. Knowing how things are likely to be abused is not waste of time, but an indication to what direction to not build, in order to not build in an open invitation for it, but instead do it another way, or what to watch out for and attempt to speak out against when it comes to what's happening in society, etc. A basic safety/security precaution, much like "worrying" about not mixing chlorine-containing bleach and certain other cleaning products.
Portable identity creates the right incentives. Devs compete to serve YOU, not to trap you. The best apps will win on merit, not lock-in. This isn’t just better for users, it’s better for innovation. We’re going to see an explosion of creativity.
Nostr has layers
1. Identity Layer - The foundational keypair (npub/nsec) that defines your Nostr identity
2. Event Structure Layer - The data format and validation rules
3. Application Layer - Specific NIPs and app behaviors
4. Transport Layer - How data moves (relay protocol, HTTP APIs, indexers, etc.)
Not every app has to support every layer, even NINO apps (nostr in name only) that uses just the identity layer (login with nostr feature) still benefits from it for a few reasons: OAuth with a provider like Google means as an app provider, you might still lose your user if the provider terminates the user's account, additionally you also get access to the user's social graph to do web of trust stuff
Yeah! What Ryan said 🤭 