# An identity that you actually own

_Bring your identity_

Not an account you rent from a company. A key that only you hold, so everything you publish is
provably yours and it works anywhere. If Beautiful disappeared tomorrow, you would still have it.

## The problem

Think about every account you have. Your photos, your profile, your list of friends, the audience
you spent years building. None of it is really yours. You are renting it from whoever runs the app.

Change your mind, or they change theirs, and you can lose the lot. Get locked out and there is often
no one to call. Your name can be taken, your reach can be switched off, and you cannot pack it all up
and take it somewhere better without starting again from nothing.

## A better idea

What if your identity was something you owned, like a key, instead of an account you rent?

Beautiful gives you a key that lives with you. From it comes a permanent identity that no company
hands out and no company can take away. Everything you publish is signed by your key, so anyone can
check it is genuinely from you. And because it is yours, you can move it to any other service without
changing who you are.

**Beautiful supplies the pen. You do the signing. What you make is yours to keep.**

## How it works

1. **You create your identity.** A key is made on your device, and only you have it. From that key
   comes your identity: a permanent ID that is yours the moment it exists, with no sign-up queue and
   no name to be assigned or revoked.
2. **You publish your Profile and Connections.** Your profile, and the people and organisations you
   are connected to, are signed by your key. Anyone can verify they really came from you, and nobody
   can quietly put words in your mouth.
3. **You prove things.** That you know someone, studied somewhere, hold a qualification. Each is a
   claim you sign, and others can add evidence that backs it up. Real proof, not just a badge.
4. **You can move any time.** Host your identity with Beautiful for convenience, or take it somewhere
   else. Switch services and your identity, your connections and your proofs come with you, unchanged.

## But what if I lose my key?

The honest worry with holding your own key. There are two answers, and you can use both.

- **A Recovery Pack** — a sealed backup you keep, opened only with a passphrase you choose. Store the
  pack in one place (even a note on your phone) and the passphrase somewhere separate. Neither one
  alone is any use to a thief.
- **Guardians** — a few people you trust, who can together help you back in if you are locked out.
  Pick two of three, so any two of them can act and no single person ever can. No one can even see who
  your guardians are, and each of them is protected the same way you are.

There is a real trade here, and we will not pretend otherwise: if you lose both your passphrase and
your guardians, no one can let you back in. That is the point. An identity no company can take from
you is also one no company can quietly reach into. You hold it.

## Who makes this

Beautiful. We build the tools and give the method away. It is open, anyone can inspect it, and anyone
can build their own version, so it does not depend on us being here. We compete on making the tools
lovely to use, never on holding your identity hostage.

**Made by Beautiful, for a beautiful future.**

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This is early, and being built in the open. There is nothing to sign up for yet: the idea is the
product for now, and we would rather get it right than rush it.