Introducing MiCASA™ Web ID (Identity Software) and MiCASA Public Trust.
Identity Software is not new. Software and access to central login management such as the kind provided by OAuth and OpenID, and now Mozilla's Persona have tools which achieve great strides towards creating the vision of an "Internet Driver's License" so that identity can be verified.
But let's look at this for a moment as each of us sign up for a website. Imagine the moment you're about to sign up...
Membership has its privileges. And it should. You can get big offers from your favorite retailer, online personality, or that awesome new service just by signing up with your primary email address.
To a business this is something of value, and it has a number attached to it. Where many corporations and small businesses including entrepreneurs and their websites are concerned, this one asset- the email address- has a value of somewhere between $10-50 and this is one way to look at the cost of "customer acquisition."
Then the begging begins. The problem isn't pandering with email sales letters. It isn't the endless advertisement, or even the way we can feel pelted at times by continuous streams of announcements, and follow-ups.
The begging referred to is this message:
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Please whitelist our mail and check your Junk Bin or Spam folder in case you receive our messages there...
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MiCASA™ could be the best solution for any business that tenders less than 100% Inbox delivery on the first email, and for the readers who are sick to death of receiving 10 Spam messages to every valid email in your Inbox.
But what does Login have to do with Spam, and why should this problem get talked about from both the perspective of the business owner and the perspective of the email reader and client?
Our system takes a very holistic approach considering what kind of identity needs to be verified, and how far this needs to go. Please allow a broad stream of consciousness to answer that question and demonstrate the natural link between these two ends.
There is a philosophy operating within the MiCASA system which seeks to integrate the most relevant needs of each business while respecting the privacy and convenience of the client for future communications, and simultaneously providing Login.
In corporate terms, this allows and somewhat requires explicit SSO (Single-sign-on) which we affectionately term One-click-login. But we handle it very much different than any other system. We use the same technology to offer Syndication, Co-opting, and Resource sharing among cooperating or networked business interests, so in this regard our system is revolutionizing Login for the business end; but really we love protecting the user experience and we hope our position catches on because if it does it will open the door for thousands of legitimate businesses to advertise while clients and potential clients can experience a clear and uncluttered Inbox!
"[MiCASA] begins with 100% Inbox delivery ratios while ongoing numbers remain as high as 96% and above as long as our recommended best practices are followed."
But this has taken more than philosophy to achieve. Our position required nearly one year of software development before its Beta release in March of 2013, notably 3 months before the official debut of Mozilla's Persona that year in June.
We created a system designed to support the needs of both businesses and clients. We believe that successful businesses are interested in establishing a productive relationship with their clients, even if that is just a one-time exchange of value.
Our system is just an extension of how we'd like to be involved with one of our friends if they were offering us something of value, and we needed to keep that communication secure so that it was just between us.
Whether your business is a corporation or a professional blog, a web presence for products or a small creative agency, or even if you yourself are a client, consumer, "end user" -- it's difficult to say who comes out ahead here, so please take a look at how this works and decide for yourself.
If you're a business owner, think of the experience with your Inbox while you're not at work... imagine if you didn't have to delete 30 junk mails a day, or beg your IT department to relax on the filters so you can talk to that one important business whose emails keep getting nixed.
Imagine that if you did receive an offer, you could trust that a refusal would be honored (or taking no action would be a sign of disinterest instead of a welcome mat to send more...)
If you're not a business owner or executive, imagine for a moment that your registration process with your favorite companies and websites only needed your first name and email address.
Think how easy this would be on Mobile without passwords to fill out and remember, usernames to try and obtain ("oh c'mon, how can slaphappydawg be already taken!!!"). Imagine a sign-up process that's convenient (and secure) when they offer you their valuable product, service, or information.
-- Register, Enroll, or Sign Up with a site using just your first name and email address.
-- Sites using MiCASA do not feature usernames, although members can choose any screen name.
-- Sites using MiCASA do not require passwords to login. The software sets a super-cryptic password behind the scenes.
-- Clients receive their first email to their Inbox because it isn't spam!
-- Businesses enjoy initial 100% Inbox delivery and just by following our recommendations typically retain as high as 96-98%.
-- Clients login via a special email link created just for them.
-- Additional machines/devices/browsers can be logged in as well repeating the process
-- Login with "remember me" status can be maintained up to 1 year without serious security issues
-- 3 tiers of security offer great choices for a site's or company's needs.
-- All security enhancements are super simple and can follow the client's increased involvement without significant increase in complexity.
-- Customer service issues related to digital downloads and the electronic distribution of information have been reduced by 80% using this system because it is so simple to learn, use, and explain.
Worth mentioning:
In case the client's first contact is made with a purchase, other details will be assigned as needed from the shopping cart transaction so that first name, last name, phone number and/or address can be retained without duplicate entry.
Passwords are not exchanged via the internet, it is a completely internal process. They are changed at regular intervals, or upon the occurrence of some event trigger whichever occurs first. The software inherently prevents "brute force" hacking.
The email link as login key was popular for a time, and used extensively by Classmates.com to manage millions of users effectively without serious security issues. Our philosophy extends the principles at work behind their system, and enhances it with even better security mechanisms. Our software features an advanced security algorithm that solves the 2 top problems and prevents fringe cases from impacting client security.
Our security techniques and underlying algorithm is part of an overall system that is incomparable in terms of robustness for the business, ease and convenience for the client, and a great overall experience for everyone. We believe we have OAuth 2.0, OpenID and Persona beat hands down, and we will be organizing a hack-a-thon in 2015 and publish the results to demo our tough security.
What about SPAM?
Our technology is new and already present in select sites online. We are building and will open the MiCASA Public Trust in 2015 to allow clients to validate merchants, where it will also be possible to report abuse of the MiCASA system, and view an official code of conduct.
This code of conduct will be published so that it is clear what is (and what is not-) acceptable use of the email addresses entrusted to those businesses who would like to offer products, services and information.
When you get Spam mail to your Inbox you'll never worry it comes from a business using MiCASA, and you'll never be scared to unsubscribe.
With MiCASA you'll have everything you need as a business owner and a citizen of the interweb to reach out safely and even open interesting mails that may strike your fancy today as long as you can be assured they'll play nice tomorrow...
We are serious about stopping Spam, and this is our way of starting a movement toward Inbox sanity. For us it started as a Dev's dream to create the world's best way to achieve login across multiple platforms, multiple devices with multiple levels of security in mind.
We are currently offering this system bundled with the Octopi Integrated Data Engine for WordPress which is only available for private license.
(Tech Notes: because MiCASA and at this point the Octopi is reliant on an integrated systems environment (read: bigger deal than your average website), it is scaled for solo-preneurs, entrepreneurs and small businesses under 100 employees. We developed this as a down-scale solution from Enterprise Class Information Systems, although it scales up just as well. The immediate future holds a managed solution from our own application servers written in Node.js to break away from WordPress dependency and PHP in general, look for us coming to a Website near you!).
