# Co-author of TLS 1.0 and the W3C DID specification

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/experts/christopher-allen/
Last updated: 2026-09-20
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Bio

Christopher Allen co-authored the IETF TLS 1.0 specification, co-authored the W3C Decentralized Identifiers specification, and in 2016 published The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity, the article that gave the field its name and its ten principles. He runs Blockchain Commons and founded the Rebooting the Web of Trust workshop series.

Profile built from public IETF, W3C, and publication records.

## Where their work shows up

Few people have authored a foundational specification in two different eras of internet security. TLS 1.0 is the reason a browser connection can be trusted at all; the [DID specification](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/decentralized-identifiers-did/) and the self-sovereign identity principles set the terms for the argument about who should hold an identifier and who should be able to revoke it. See [what is self-sovereign identity](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-self-sovereign-identity/) and [what is decentralized identity](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-decentralized-identity/).