XDI.ORG Top FAQ 
On this page we provide answers to the top frequently-asked questions about XDI.ORG.
1. What does XDI.ORG do and who might choose to care?
The vision of an accountable, trustworthy layer on the Internet is described well in The Accountable Net from the Aspen Institute. XDI.ORG is an international public trust organization founded to provide standards and services instrumental in building this new layer. Specifically its purpose is to:
- Manage the intellectual property rights for a new data interchange protocol,
- Contribute these rights to open, public, royalty-free standards,
- Offer public global services that help individuals and communities interoperate using these standards.
Your participation in, and contribution to, XDI.ORG will help shape the emergence of this trust layer.
2. What is the primary purpose of XRI and XDI?
Together, XRI and XDI solve the twin problems of persistent identity and trusted data sharing relationships by providing the technical foundation for linking people and organizations in a "Web of trust" just the way the Web lets us link pages in a "Web of text".
XRIs (Extensible Resource Identifiers) address a longstanding problem on the Internet: how to have a persistent, portable, privacy-protected identifier for any resource, from a person to a company to an application to a concept.
XDI (XRI Data Interchange) uses XRIs to securely and privately share, link, and synchronize data between any two devices, domains, or applications – and maintain this link for as long as the two parties want to keep a data sharing relationship.
3. What are i-names and i-numbers?
An i-name is a human-friendly XRI intended for everyday use in browers, email clients, Web pages - anyplace a Web address (URI) would appear today.
Unlike traditional Web addresses, i-names are designed to be very long-lived. For example, a personal i-name might last for a lifetime and never need to change no matter how often a person moved, changed jobs, changed service providers, etc. However, an i-name can (like a domain name) be transfered between registrants.
An i-number is a special type of XRI that differs from an i-number in one critical way: once assigned to a resource, it is *never* reassigned. For this reason i-numbers are typically numbers and punctuation characters (similar to an IP address) and are thus much harder for humans to use.
4. What do i-names and i-numbers provide that other addresses don't?
I-Names and i-numbers offer three key features not provided by any other address:
- Privacy. Because an i-name or i-number is not itself a communications address like an email address or phone number, it is unspammable. You simply can't send it email, call it, or send it a fax directly unless the owner has given you permission. If you don't have permission, you can use an i-name to make a contact request of the owner. These requests can be automatically filtered by your i-broker to eliminate all but legitimate requests for contact.
- Persistence. Together, i-names and i-numbers are the first true universal addresses designed to last for a lifetime. Unlike any other form of address – postal address, telephone number, fax number, email address, domain name, etc. – i-names and i-numbers never need to change when a person or company moves, changes service providers, or even changes their real-world name.
- Portability. Global i-names and i-numbers – those registered directly with XDI.ORG – are guaranteed to be portable among i-brokers (the service providers that offer i-name/i-number data sharing applications) anywhere in the world.
5. Can I have more than one i-name and/or i-number?
Yes. You can register multiple global i-names (i-names registered directly with XDI.ORG) and/or multiple community i-names (i-names registered under another global i-name, such as the i-name of a business or service
provider.) The same is true of i-numbers. You can also control whether these i-names/i-numbers resolve to one i-broker account or multiple accounts.
6. What else will I be able to do with a personal i-name and i-broker account?
As adoption of XDI grows, your i-name will be your key to a wide variety of automated, privacy-protected personal data sharing services, including i-name single sign-on (ISSO), one-click site registration, one-click purchasing, self-updating address books, shared calendar services, and smart spam filters.
7. How can I be sure my i-broker data is kept private and secure?
Besides conventional network security safeguards, at the i-broker level there are 3 new types of protection. First, in order to serve as a global i-name/i-number registrar with XDI.ORG, a i-broker must publish their privacy, and security policies so they are easily available to all customers. Secondly, XDI.ORG-accredited i-brokers will be required to participate in a reputation service hosted by XDI.ORG into which their customers can provide feedback. Thirdly, brokers may join trust federations such as Identity Commons that will help ensure their members are accountable to best practices for privacy and security protection.
In addition, when you share any personal data using your i-broker account, the XDI protocol will automatically negotiate a link contract between you and the subscribing party. This link contract will specify the privacy and security terms of the data sharing relationship to be followed by all parties involved.
8. Who is using i-names today and how can I get one?
The first trust federation to begin using i-names and i-numbers is Identity Commons. XDI.ORG and Identity Commons are cooperating on an initial global i-name/i-number test program called the Early Global Services (EGS) Program. Under this program a limited number of individuals and organizations can obtain global personal and organizational i-names and begin using personal contact pages.
To register, start at Identity Commons registration page. XDI.ORG plans to begin offering unlimited global i-names and i-number registration shortly after the EGS program is complete.
9. What is the relationship between the OASIS XRI/XDI specifications and the Liberty Alliance specifications?
The two sets of specifications address complementary but different problems.
The Liberty Alliance specifications cover standards for federated identity - identity which can recognized across different companies or websites. The Liberty Alliance specifications enjoy very broad support across the industry. The best-known Liberty application is "single sign-on" or SSO - the ability to log in once to a website, then be able to navigate to any other website in its "circle of trust" without having to log in again.
However the Liberty Alliance specs are based on existing identifiers being issued by companies or websites, such as usernames or email addresses. They do not address the issue of federated identifiers - identifiers that are designed to be used across multiple companies or websites.
The OASIS XRI specifications complement the Liberty Alliance specifications by providing an open standard for abstract, domain-independent identifiers (i-names and i-numbers). The principle advantage of i-names and i-numbers is interoperability - they will work across all companies and websites where XRIs are supported. I-names in particular can greatly simplify the SSO experience by eliminating the need for a user to need to remember different usernames or passwords no matter which Liberty "circle of trust" they are entering.
The Liberty Alliance specifications also address particular types of identity attribute sharing, i.e., if you are purchasing a product at a website, the Liberty protocols allow your Liberty identity provider to provide your shipping address, billing address, and credit card number. The Liberty Alliance specifications are based on a set of specific "vocabularies" (lists of attribute types), and they assume that the sharing parties have already established some type of trust relationship.
The OASIS XDI specifications complement the Liberty Alliance specifications by providing: a) a more generalized solution for data sharing where all companies and industries can create and maintain their own data sharing vocabularies (called XDI dictionaries), and b) a more generalized solution for creating and maintaining online trust relationships (called XDI link contracts).
With XDI dictionaries, software can automatically find the vocabulary matches between two or more websites, and evolve these matches as vocabularies evolve (which is inevitable.) This helps solve the problem of data sharing across all industries, which is ultimately what serves customers best. And with XDI link contracts, individuals and companies can form new online trust relationships quickly and easily, rather than being forced to rely on slower, paper-based mechanisms.
In conclusion, the OASIS XRI and XDI specifications are very complementary to those being developed by the Liberty Alliance, and build on top of the Liberty Alliance standards by making them easier to use and more broadly applicable to all types of data sharing applications.