**I. Existing Infrastructure & Namespace Realities (Related to DNS & TLDs):** 1. **TLDs for Personal Identity:** * What is the current policy landscape regarding Top-Level Domains (TLDs) intended primarily for *individual* use, rather than commercial or organizational branding? Specifically, what is the status and policy governing the `.id` TLD? * Are there any existing TLDs operating under public-interest charters focused on accessibility or individual identity? What are their governance models and challenges? * Realistically, what is the process and what are the key challenges (political, policy, cost) within the current ICANN framework for establishing a *new* TLD specifically dedicated to providing universal, low-cost, persistent identifiers for individuals? 2. **DNS Record Capabilities for Personal Pointers:** * What are the current *technical limits* (e.g., data size, structure constraints, update/propagation speeds) on using standard DNS records like TXT and SRV at global scale to reliably store pointers or metadata associated with *individuals* (e.g., pointers to different online services, cryptographic keys, or identifiers from other systems)? * How robust and widespread is DNSSEC deployment globally? What are the practical implications if a system relies heavily on DNSSEC for verifying the integrity of these personal pointers stored in DNS? * Are there already widely adopted standards or common practices (e.g., specific RFCs, industry conventions) for using DNS records to discover personal identity information or service endpoints beyond basic website/email lookup? What are their limitations? **II. Decentralized Technology Integration Feasibility (Linking DNS to Web3/P2P):** 3. **Linking DNS Names to IPFS/IPNS:** * What are the most mature and reliable methods currently available for linking a standard DNS name to content stored on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), particularly for *mutable* content using IPNS (InterPlanetary Name System)? How well do mechanisms like DNSLink perform, and what are their security considerations? * What are the practical challenges related to ensuring the *long-term availability* (e.g., "pinning") of IPFS content that is discovered via a DNS record, especially for individual users who may not run their own infrastructure? 4. **Linking DNS Names to Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs):** * Which types of Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) are designed to be discoverable or resolvable using standard DNS lookups (e.g., `did:web`, `did:dns`)? What are the pros and cons of these methods regarding ease of use versus true decentralization? * How feasible is it today for standard applications to initiate interactions using Verifiable Credentials purely by discovering a user's DID via a DNS record lookup? What assumptions does this make about supporting software (like agents or universal resolvers)? **III. User Experience & Adoption Factors (Making it Usable):** 5. **User-Friendly Control Mechanisms:** * What are the leading secure *and user-friendly* methods available today for individuals to manage the private keys needed to authorize changes in distributed systems (e.g., making authenticated updates to their own DNS records or linked decentralized profiles)? How can these be applied without requiring users to become cryptography experts? * Are there good examples of applications or services that provide intuitive interfaces for non-technical users to manage settings that function *like* DNS records (e.g., pointing a profile to different services, setting communication preferences)? 6. **Lessons from Past Open Identity Efforts:** * What key factors contributed to the success or failure of previous initiatives aiming for open, interoperable digital identity (e.g., various versions of OpenID, specific SSI projects, federated identity standards)? What were the main barriers to widespread adoption among users and developers? **IV. Governance & Standardization Realities (Ensuring Openness & Interoperability):** 7. **Standardizing New Uses of DNS:** * What is the most practical pathway (e.g., IETF, W3C, new foundation) for developing and formalizing open standards that define *how* existing DNS records should be used for discovering personal resource pointers (like DIDs, IPNS names, specific service endpoints)? What kind of timeline and community effort does this typically involve? 8. **Models for Minimalist Stewardship:** * Can you identify examples of successful, lightweight, multi-stakeholder groups that effectively steward open technical standards or foundational internet resources without evolving into large bureaucracies? How are they typically structured and funded? **V. Connecting the Foundation to the Grand Vision (Potential Future Applications):** 9. **Enabling a Universal Knowledge Utility (like an AI-powered 411):** * If a global system aimed to provide AI-synthesized knowledge accessible via diverse interfaces (including SMS), how could a **stable, universal personal identifier** (discoverable via DNS) technically serve as the addressing mechanism? What specific information would need to be discoverable via this identifier's DNS records to facilitate routing queries to such a knowledge service and returning personalized results? * Why is the *persistence* and *global resolvability* of such a personal identifier crucial for enabling equitable access, especially for users interacting through low-bandwidth or gateway systems (like SMS)? 10. **Enabling Networked Intelligence & Collaboration:** * For building large-scale systems for collective knowledge building or distributed collaboration (e.g., decentralized science, open peer review, community-curated datasets), what kinds of information linked to a **stable personal identifier** (discoverable via DNS) would be most critical? (e.g., pointers to reputation scores, links to contribution histories perhaps stored on IPFS/IPNS, discovery information for preferred open AI models or collaborative tools)? * How does having a neutral, universal **discovery layer** based on personal identifiers specifically help overcome the limitations of current collaborative or knowledge-sharing platforms that operate as isolated "walled gardens"?