The Asymmetry of Internet Identity
This article seems to present the state of the Internet as a kind of feudalism, where one must swear fealty to an established &quot;brand&quot;, and carving out a life as a freeman is practically unattainable. I&#x27;d say the reality is that it&#x27;s easy to join the Internet land-owning class (buy a domain; get a cert; run services), yet most people prefer to rent because they are not so inclined.<p>Email is widely used, HTTPS is widely used, and they don&#x27;t require you use a gatekeeper brand. Many instant messaging platforms, while run by brands, allow you to bring your own email address as an identity.<p>I don&#x27;t think authentication of identities is a feature that ties people to brands. A phone number is pseudonymous, and acts as an identity for many mobile messaging applications. Authentication in many cases is performed socially: you got the number from them, from a mutual friend, or they told you who they are and you were convinced.