YouID Usage Guide: Creating a Personal Profile Document

In today’s highly connected world, the identifiers that convey your identity are inextricably linked to the authentication services you use across various online platforms. This connection raises concerns about who controls your identity, how others refer to you, and the privacy of interactions conducted under identities subtly derived by authentication service providers.

YouID is a powerful application designed to tackle these challenges, providing an intuitive solution for creating webpages that serve as personal profile documents, using hyperlinks as identifiers.

This guide walks you through setting up your profile document with YouID, following the steps demonstrated in the accompanying screencast.

1. App Installation

• Download YouID: Install the app as a browser extension (compatible with Chrome-based browsers, Firefox, and Safari) or as a native app for iOS and macOS.
• Launch YouID: Open the app to begin setting up your profile document.

2. Creating a Certificate (Profile Document)

Step 1: Access the Certificate Creation Form

• Navigate to the "Certificates" tab, which brings up the information capture form.

Step 2: Enter Your Profile Information

• Complete the form with your details, or, if you already have a public URL about yourself, enter it in the "Profile Document URL" field.

Step 3: Enable Additional Features (Optional)

• Add OPAL Integration: To link your profile with the OpenLink AI Layer (OPAL)-based Assistant, check the "Add OPAL Widget" box and provide your OPAL API Key.

• Embed Data in Card HTML: Accept the default settings, or customize for additional structured data.
• NetID-Profile Storage: Use the "Manual" setting for secure, controlled storage.

Step 4: Generate Your Profile Document

• Click "Generate" to create credentials based on the information you provided.

Step 5: Download and Save the Profile Document

• Download the Profile Document: Click "Zip Archive" to save your profile document to your device’s default download folder.

Step 6: Publish Your Profile Document

• Make the Document Public: Extract the downloaded folder and place it in an HTTP-accessible location.If using Virtuoso as your HTTP server, mount the target folder via WebDAV, then copy the folder as with any local folder.
• Open the "index.html" file in this folder to view your profile document.

3. Key Benefits of Your YouID Profile Document

Your completed profile document provides:

1. Digital Naming and Identification: A unique hyperlink-based identifier.
2. Profile and Preferences Publication: Accessible to third-party AI agents, applications, and services as needed.
3. Loose Coupling of Identity and Security: Enables secure authentication across services with fine-grained control over identity and session tracking.
4. OPAL Integration (optional): Connects your profile document to an OPAL-based AI Assistant for enhanced interactions.

Congratulations! You now have a fully functional, accessible personal profile document, optimized for secure and seamless interaction with AI-driven and web-based applications.

App Download Links

• Chrome and Chromium-based Browsers
• Firefox
• Safari

Related

• AI Agent(s) and Personal Profile Documents Integration
• Example of a Hyperlink-based Identifier & Associated Profile Page