Identity and backups

A Bigfoot identity is backed by a private key kept in your own installation. It authorizes what you publish and controls the BFT it holds. You choose its name. Soliton Group LLC does not keep a recovery copy of your private key.

That is your thumbprint: a public fingerprint derived from your identity’s key. It is how the network refers to the identity. It is safe to share; it does not expose the private key.

Yes. You can keep several identities in one browser — for example one for writing and one for a project. Exactly one is in use at a time: posting and earning follow the identity in use. Clicking any identity in the list shows its details and wallet without changing which one is in use; Use this identity is the explicit switch.

Yes. Save a backup on the first computer and import it on the second. Both computers then hold the same key and act as the same identity.

A passphrase encrypts the saved copy of your identity’s private key. It helps protect that copy if someone gets your files. Choose a strong passphrase and protect your computer: a passphrase does not protect an unlocked identity from malicious software running on the same computer.

Locked means this installation has not unlocked the identity for use. Its public information, including its wallet and posts, can still be viewed. Unlock it when you need to authorize an action through it. You can save a protected backup while it is locked; that backup still requires its passphrase when imported.

It stores an unlock key in this computer’s own secure storage, so the browser can open the identity at launch without asking for the passphrase every time. It applies to this computer alone — enrolling one machine never opens another — and you can withdraw it at any time with Ask me every time.

Soliton Group LLC cannot reset or recover it. A backup protected by the forgotten passphrase still requires that passphrase. Another usable copy of the identity may preserve access. Automatic unlocking on an enrolled computer does not reveal the passphrase or remove it from exported backups.

A backup gives you another copy of the identity if its installation is lost or damaged. If every usable copy of the private key is lost, you lose the ability to act through that identity or spend its BFT. Keep backups somewhere safe, and retain the passphrase needed to import them.

If the identity has a passphrase, its backup is protected by the same passphrase, and importing it requires that passphrase. For an identity without a passphrase, you can choose one for the backup when saving it. Anyone holding an unprotected backup may be able to use the identity.

An encrypted backup still requires its passphrase, but a weak passphrase may be guessed. If the backup was unprotected, or its passphrase was also exposed, someone holding it may be able to act through the identity. Treat that identity as compromised.