By Tim Spring
A distributed ledger is a database that has copies distributed across a network of servers (nodes), all of which are updated simultaneously. A network like this is the foundation of decentralized identity, a way of generating robust trust and collaboration free of the security risks of centralized databases. We call the companies and organizations that support an Indicio Network node on a server that is under their control “Node Operators.”
Recently we caught up with Paul Ashley, CTO and Co-CEO of Anonyome Labs, a current Node Operator of Indicio, to discuss their current projects, some goals for the future, and where they think decentralized identity is heading.
Tell us about Anonyome: how did it start, where did it start, and who makes up your team?
The goal of Anonyome Labs is to shift the control of personal information back to normal users.
Everything we do is recorded, collected, mined, profiled, stored, targeted and sold. The balance of power has shifted to the cabal of tech giants and data miners who overtly or covertly monitor and control what is seen, clicked, and cared about. At Anonyome Labs we build the tools that shift control of personal and private information from the big data miners back to the user.
Anonyome Labs was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Woodside California, with teams in Salt Lake City, Utah and Gold Coast, Australia. Anonyome Labs has about 70 employees – the teams have deep enterprise and consumer expertise across identity, cyber security, authentication, authorization, privacy and cryptography – with hundreds of granted patents.
What are some of the products/services (Self Sovereign Identity or not) that you currently offer? Who are your target customers? What sets you apart from the competition?
Anonyome Labs created the Sudo Platform to provide enterprise software developers with capabilities to add persona (Sudo) based identity, privacy and cyber safety features to their applications. The Sudo Platform provides to these enterprise software developers mobile and web SDKs, sample apps, documentation and UI Kits to accelerate their application development.
Each of the capabilities of the Sudo Platform is attached to a persona. This includes masked email and masked credit cards, private telephony, private and compartmentalized browsing (with ad/tracker blocker and site reputation), VPN, password management, decentralized identity and more.
In addition, Anonyome Labs created the MySudo mobile application to put the same identity, privacy, and cyber security capabilities into the hands of normal users for their interactions with the online and offline world. Each user is able to create a number of personas (Sudos) and with each of them have access to various Sudo Platform capabilities.
What Self Sovereign Identity /Decentralized Identity products/services are on your roadmap?
A key offering of the Sudo Platform is Decentralized Identity based services. This includes both client (Edge Agent) and server (Cloud Agent) offerings. This allows the enterprise to become a Decentralized Identity Verifiable Credential Issuer and/or Validator. And it allows the enterprise’s users to take part in a decentralized identity ecosystem – by giving them a mobile wallet/agent to manage decentralized identities, connections and verifiable credentials.
What motivated your work in Decentralized Identity? Why did you become a node operator? What appeals to you in this field?
We believe that Decentralized Identity is the most important innovation in identity to help normal users have control over their personal information as they interact with the online world. Given Anonyome’s focus on privacy and cyber safety, it was a natural extension to our Sudo Platform to add Decentralized Identity services. Anonyome Labs became a founding steward of the Indicio decentralized identity network in anticipation of using that network for our customer’s enterprise applications.
Where do you see the future of Self Sovereign Identity/Decentralized Identity?
It is our belief that decentralized identity will become the core foundational technology of future privacy and cyber safety capabilities. Over time we will transition from the current privacy invasive technologies, to new systems founded on decentralized identity.
For more information about the Sudo platform or any of their other products, go to Anonyome.com