Data Portability Pack now in BlogEngine.NET Core

The Data Portability Pack that I posted about a few weeks ago has now made it into the core of BlogEngine.NET for version 1.4. Mads Kristensen added the SIOC and APML handlers, and Roman Clarkson is working on a FOAF implementation that includes adding some Profile data (first and last name, etc.) to users of a BE.NET instance.

FOAF (friend of a friend) currently doesn't have any way of (1) automatting "Add as Friend" style interactions (like Facebook or Myspace) or (2) verifying connections between people. Roman and I would like to find a secure way of implementing this functionality which would in effect create a decentralized social network. There are however, several problems to work through regarding security (public vs. private friends lists), identification (unique IDs: email or OpenID?), verification (preventing friend spam), and so on. These issues have been talked about for some time in the FOAF community, but so far there hasn't been an implementation. Here are some older (2003) and newer (2007) discussions on the subject to get caught up: