#53 When you log into an account with Google or Facebook, you’re doing an identity verification through a central intermediary. While it may seem convenient to log in with these established accounts, it comes with concerns for privacy. These large intermediaries will gather metadata as you use the account—things like when and how long you used it, where you were located, and other online activity you engaged in during that time. This information is often used to create targeted ads for you. It can be surprising how quickly you start seeing ads for an item you looked up while your activity was being monitored. And ads seem relatively innocent when compared to other possible uses of this metadata, such as interference in elections. Decentralized identifiers (DIDs) provide a different credential-checking method that doesn’t rely on that intermediary.

How do Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) Work?