Hi, I'm Rick and my thoughts tend to drift fast. It is highly fair to assume that, the moment you are reading this, it might already be the second or even third version of this post. My approach usually is to jot down my thoughts, unorganized and unfiltered. After reflecting and processing, I transform it bit by bit into something more organized. That makes more sense to me.
Today I want to talk about the sheer amount of user accounts that I have. Whenever I install an application, whether because I want to try it out or it has been recommended to me, almost no app lets you test it without creating a user account. As a result, I no longer control where and how much data about myself is stored at what location. It is bothering me. I like things organized.
Let's take social media as an example. There is Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for shorts and reels. There is Mastodon, X, and Bluesky for microblogging. There’s even Medium, where I need a separate account. This alone is already overwhelming.
I truly loved the approach of Mastodon, with the promise of decentralization, being in charge of where my data is stored and with whom it is shared. Another fact is that the ActivityPub protocol itself isn’t limited to Mastodon. It can be used for full-length blog articles, videos, and much more. There is already a WordPress integration, and a Ghost integration is in the works. But does that mean I can do everything with only one account? No, it doesn’t. Unfortunately. Even if I want to use Pixelfed, which is an Instagram clone based on ActivityPub, I can log in with my Mastodon account, but it still creates a separate account. And on Pixelfed, I can’t consume content that doesn’t include an image. So even within the different implementations of ActivityPub services, there is no central—or even better—decentralized identity that can be used through the entire network.
How cool would it be if services like Threads, Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, WordPress, and more would merely function as "storage" for my already created identity. Somewhat like how GPG works, but with domain aliases. There could be identity providers and storage providers, where a user only needs a single identity and then can use all the different storage providers with it. And my posts, for example, could be replicated using a peer-to-peer protocol like torrent, IPFS, or Filecoin through a minimum number of storage providers. This way, even when one provider goes down, my data would still be there. And a new replica could be created on another storage provider. The same for my identity. It could be replicated across different identity providers, so that whatever happens, I will never lose it.
But I guess we will never see this happen, because even if those services are called "federated" or "decentralized," they aren’t. There are always people who want to be in charge of my identity, who want to do arbitrary moderation, who want to feel like they’re in control over a world that is theirs. At least that is my guess of why we haven’t seen such implementations yet. The only implementations heading even slightly in that direction are blockchain technologies.
I wish I had just one identity—I’m just one person. That’s all I need.
Take care!
Rick.
