Free to use. Not free to abuse.

In short

Be good to people’s data.

• Use it freely. If your site, app or service works with wellknown.id, you may say so, show the name and the “Works with wellknown.id” mark, and link to us. There’s no fee, no sign-up and no approval to wait for.
• Using our SDKs licenses the name too. Build with a wellknown.id SDK and you have permission to use the name under these terms. The two come together.
• You declare it yourself, the way a manufacturer declares a CE mark: by showing the name, you say your integration keeps the promises below.
• We check. Your domain’s wellknown.id configuration is public, over HTTPS or DNS, so we look at it from time to time, automatically, and may look closer.
• Break the promises and you lose the name, not the code. We’ll tell you what’s wrong and give you time to fix it. If you don’t, or if the misuse was deliberate, you must stop saying you work with wellknown.id.

The promises

What showing the name says about you.

• You ask only for what you need, and say why, when and for how long you’ll keep it.
• People consent knowingly, and can see, withdraw and ask you to erase what they shared, as the law already requires. Where wellknown.id offers a way to record consent, you accept it.
• You don’t track people with it. No using a wellknown.id identifier to follow someone across sites, and no selling or sharing it.
• Your configuration is honest and current: it lists only addresses you control, and the privacy notice and contact it names are real.
• You don’t claim more than is true. “Works with wellknown.id” is fine. “Certified by”, “partnered with” or “endorsed by” wellknown.id isn’t, unless we’ve agreed it in writing.

The code

Open source, with credit where it’s due.

The code is licensed separately from the name. You may use, change and share it under its licence, which requires keeping wellknown.id’s credit and notices in copies and forks. A fork may say it’s based on wellknown.id. It may not use the name as its own, or suggest it is wellknown.id, unless it keeps these promises and says it works with wellknown.id, as anyone may.

Terms

The same, in legal words.

1. “The Mark” means the trade mark WELLKNOWN.ID, registered in the United Kingdom (UK00004081231) by Benjamin Babik and used and licensed by wellknown.id ltd (“we”) under licence from him, and the “Works with wellknown.id” mark. “You” means anyone who uses the Mark, or any software development kit published by us (“an SDK”).
2. We grant you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, revocable licence to use the Mark to state truthfully that your product or service works with wellknown.id, for as long as you comply with these terms. Using an SDK, or publishing a wellknown.id configuration for a domain, is acceptance of these terms.
3. You must comply with the promises set out on this page and with applicable data protection law, including the UK GDPR where it applies.
4. You may not use the Mark to suggest certification, partnership, sponsorship or endorsement by us without our written agreement, nor as part of your own product, company or domain name.
5. You agree that we may evaluate your compliance from time to time, including by fetching the wellknown.id configuration you publish over HTTPS or DNS.
6. If we reasonably believe you are not complying, we will tell you why and allow 30 days to remedy it. We may end this licence at once for deliberate or serious misuse, or if you do not remedy it. When this licence ends, you must stop using the Mark. Your rights to the code under its own licence are not affected.
7. We reserve all rights in the Mark not expressly granted, including the right to enforce it. These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

Questions, or something to report: hello@wellknown.id.