did:cow, a proposal for an ID resolution method with most of the convenience of did:plc/did:web and the robustness of a public blockchain
clarity
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README.md
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README.md
···
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The did:cow registry contract performs the following steps:
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- If no on-chain record exists, resolve the wrapped DID from the identifier directly.
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- If an on-chain record exists, prepend `did:` to the returned wrapped DID value and resolve that.
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- If an on-chain record exists, return the wrapped DID value.
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- If the record exists but has been deactivated, return deactivated status.
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Resolve the wrapped DID as per that DID system's resolution method.
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`initial_wrapped_did` should omit the initial "`did:`".
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### 6.3 Update
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···
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### 6.4 Deactivate
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Call `deactivate(initial_controller_address, initial_wrapped_did)` from the current controller to permanently deactivate a did:cow ID. If the did:cow ID has not been registered on-chain yet, it will be registered automatically in the same transaction.
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Call `deactivate` / `deactivateByHash` from the current controller to permanently deactivate a did:cow ID.
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If the did:cow ID has not been registered on-chain yet, it will be registered automatically in the same transaction.
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The `initial_controller_address` should omit the initial "`did:`".
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After deactivation, `resolve` returns an empty string and the DID cannot be reactivated.
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···
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}
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```
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## 11. Comparison
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| Feature | did:cow | did:key | did:web | did:plc |
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|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
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| Rotation Support | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
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| Zero-cost Creation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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| Zero-cost Updates | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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| Decentralized | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
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| Blockchain Required | Ethereum | None | None | None |
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| Rotation Authority | Ethereum | N/A | DNS | PLC Directory |
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| Censorship Resistant | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
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## 12. Philosophical Considerations
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## 11. Philosophical Considerations
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DIDs are intended to be permanent identifiers. Using a wrapper implies that the wrapped DID is not in fact a permanent identifier.
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We consider this to illuminate a problem with the existing DIDs, rather than with this proposal. A permanent wrapper is required because users cannot be sufficiently confident in the permanence of their existing options.
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## 13. References
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## 12. References
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- [DID Core Specification](https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/)
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- [DID Method Rubric](https://w3c.github.io/did-rubric/)