in a way, email already is portable. My email address is on my ... • Aaron Parecki

Blaine Cook https://twitter.com/blaine • Sep 25
For sure; it just requires specific functionality on the provider's side. With webfinger, we always imagined that you could enable "portability" by setting a redirect or a pointer, again provider-dependent.

in a way, email already is portable. My email address is on my domain, parecki.com, but it’s actually a Gmail account under the hood. If i want to move that to another provider, I can, and I don’t need to tell anyone a new email address. This is of course thanks to DNS 🙃

Portland, Oregon • 66°F

Thu, Sep 24, 2020 6:47pm -07:00

2 likes 9 replies
Have you written a response to this? Let me know the URL:
- Blaine Cook twitter.com/blaine
  
  A little of both, I guess? Probably also limited response sizes? Weird how culture dictates so strongly what's possible with technology, way more than the tech itself.
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 5:16am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- Brooklyn Zelenka 🏳️‍🌈 twitter.com/expede
  
  Yeah, right now through our service. We’re very much planning on associating them in a more decentralized way, but just so much to stand up for the system in general. It’s on the list for sure, though!
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 4:04am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- rabble twitter.com/rabble
  
  Is it held back by the idea that it’s cached? Or because dns is a sysadmin type thing vs application?
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 3:12am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- Blaine Cook twitter.com/blaine
  
  Never mind DNS software that supported dynamic / programmable responses!
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 2:47am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- Aaron Parecki twitter.com/aaronpk
  
  For some reason DNS providers haven't iterated on the UX around configuring records much. If as much time and money were spent on making DNS easier to use without understanding all the terminology as was spent on all the blockchain tech, we'd be in a much better place right now.
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 2:18am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- Blaine Cook twitter.com/blaine
  
  @expede has done a bunch of nice work on establishing decentralized identities; currently I think the email address -> decentralized ID bridge is just a centralized service, though?
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 2:08am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- Blaine Cook twitter.com/blaine
  
  Yup, exactly. In my mind, that's the only real question to answer to address the (arguably theoretical) concerns that identity isn't "decentralized" with this approach.
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 2:07am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- rabble twitter.com/rabble
  
  So if you’re able to control a domain name and set Mx records you’ve got portability. It actually works pretty well but it’s not used for individuals so much as organizations. What’s the equivalent or way to extend it to individual users.
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 1:57am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)
- Blaine Cook twitter.com/blaine
  
  Totally - it's one of the things I love about email addresses. I think the standard complaint is that most addresses are managed by e.g., gmail. Probably the easiest way to fix this is an EU regulation mandating ownership of "@gmail.com" addresses.
  
  Fri, Sep 25, 2020 1:49am +00:00 (via brid-gy.appspot.com)

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