Hot off the press: 50-year iname prices will increase May 8.
Get your inames and gift codes for $25 while you can. (A gift code at $25 will be the least expensive way to register an unclaimed XNS name when they become available after the global launch.)
We got the following questions and thought the answer was worth blogging
I had to verify my email address to send mail to the author of a blog I subscribe to. So I am ready to consider getting an i-name, but why would I choose an i-name over any of the other identity services out there? What is the chance that i-name will become the accepted standard? Can I consider i-name a replacement for email certificates? If not, what is the difference?
These are great questions. Following we do our best to answer without resorting to technical mumbo jumbo.
First, it will be helpful to clarify what an i-name is; it’s simply an identifier - a string of characters that you register - and the mumbo jumbo that let’s the name be used with all kinds of services.
When you register an i-name at 2idi today, you get two services:
1] Authentication service - authentication lets you prove you are the owner of the iname by entering your password. Once authenticated you can simply present your iname to other iname enabled service providers and they can verify that you are already logged in by asking your authentication service. Note that they don’t need your password to do this.
2] Contact service - a web page that let’s people send you messages provided they authenticate themselves. As you experienced, you were able to authenticate by verifying your email address.
Both of these services are provided by 2idi today and are integrated into the 2idi ibroker code itself. However, at the upcoming global launch these services can just as easily be provided by other service providers. Your ibroker (where you register and manage your iname) will always offer some essential services (such as authentication), but they will also let you provision whatever other services you want. This is a key value of the iname/ibroker. You can use this ability to augment or replace services your ibroker offers with ones you prefer; for instance a better authentication service than your ibroker provides. The services you can manage under your iname are extensible and distinct from the iname itself. Your iname is simply your identifier (and the mumbo jumbo).
So, back to the questions. You’re wondering about the value of the iname identifier, the services that go with it, and the chances that it becomes *the* accepted standard.
Thanks to Kim Cameron, the conversation in the internet identity space is now framed in the generally accepted concept of an identity metasystem - an interoperable mix of different identity standards and protocols. Fundamental to the metasystem concept is the notion that any true identity solution needs to consist of interoperable approaches so that we don’t get trapped in identity “silos”.
What’s important at this juncture is not whether any particular standard is going to *win* and be *the* standard, but whether it is going to be interoperable with the others. Inames were developed with interoperability in mind, they don’t replace anything, they are compatible with *all* other identifiers (they are sometimes referred to as a meta-identifier), and they create new capabilities. The proof of inames’ value still has to be demonstrated, but their ability to be interoperable is clear:
Inames are a part of the Yadis project, an open source, open protocol initiative to create interoperability between simple authentication services including LID and OpenID. Inames are interoperable with Liberty and Microsoft’s infocards. And at launch, inames will have SAML based authentication as well.
So, inames won’t be *the* standard, but they are *a* standard that will work with the others. How valuable they become still needs to be proven in the marketplace where inames need to demonstrate their unique value within the identity metasystem.
Lastly, the iname is not a replacement for email certificates, but it’s possible for your iname to point to all kinds of certificates that you might want to use; certificates can be “just another service”.
As to whether you should purchase an iname, that is up to you. The specially priced 50-year inames at 2idi were priced to make the gamble worthwhile. But you don’t have to buy an iname to use the iname services - you can also get a free iname at one of the community sites.
Most folks know you can register inames at 2idi. But few seem to be aware that you can also purchase iname gift codes.
Gift codes are a simple “token” you can use to register an i-name. The idea for gift codes was (as the name implies) to enable gift-giving, but they also can be used in a couple other ways.
If you’re going to purchase more than one iname, you can use your credit card once to buy gift codes. Then, whenever you feel like it, you can redeem the gift codes one at a time to register an iname without having to use your card again.
The ability to purchase a gift code today and use it later can be used to “lock-in” the special 50-year price today and then redeem it for an iname after the launch. For anybody interested in XNS reserved names this provides a means to get an iname that won’t be available until the after the launch but do it at today’s prices.
As an example of how the gift codes work, here’s a real, live gift code for the first person who reads this blog and redeems it for an iname: B6Bi39W (just paste it into the form at 2idi)
(Note that gift code sales will end on 5/31 as the transition to global launch begins)
So, you registered more than one iname and later realized they were all in the same account. Only thing is, one (or more) of ‘em was for a friend/spouse/colleague. So whadda ya do?
You transfer it!
(note: these instructions are for 2idi.com only)
1] Go to the iname page: https://secure.2idi.com/account/inames.php (you’ll need to login)
2] Click “Transfer”
3] Enter the email address (or iname) of the person you want to transfer the i-name to. If you want to create a second account for yourself, just send the transfer to your own email address.
4] The person who receives the transfer clicks the link in the email to create the new account (if you sent it to yourself, make sure to logout *before* you click the link!)
If you’ve registered an iname with 2idi and want your contact page enabled, we recommend that you test it to be sure it’s working. Why? The copy on the 2idi site tells new registrants that the contact page is enabled, however, it turns out that they are not. If you haven’t verified that it’s working then most likely it isn’t.
To test, simply type the address for your contact page into a web browser. If your iname is:
=inamers
Then the address of the contact page is:
http://xri.net/=inamers
If your iname is working, you’ll see a form that let’s someone send you a message. If it’s not working you’ll have some a message in red text saying something like “this iname can’t be found or doesn’t exist”.
To fix this problem, login and enable your contact page here:
https://secure.2idi.com/pcg/configure.php
Questions? Ask ‘em here.
If you have a global iname, then you also have a contact page with it’s own unique web link (URL to you techies). The link consists of a public address followed by your iname. Folks who sign up at 2idi.com are (still) told that their link is:
old: http://public.xdi.org/=inamers
This is out of date (but still works).
As announced on the Identity Commons community list in December, a new address has been created for these links and it is highly recommended that all inamers update their links to:
The old form of the link continues to work, but the new domain xri.net is preferable (not to mention shorter and easier to type!).