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Some of the capabilities of the By* framework have counterparts in the Internet today, but these exist in the form of ad hoc, incomplete solutions.
Consider for example the very popular MySpace. In some ways this is not unlike the ByName and ByAlias services, in the sense that the individual person is recognized as a formal entity, and abstracted in the form of a set of attributes and conventions. But MySpace is focussed specifically on interactions between individual persons, and does not address the broader class of entities and interactions recognized in By*.
Microsoft's less successful Passport service may also be considered in the same context, as an attempt to define an individual as a recognizable abstract entity for login purposes.
A complementary example to these is Craigslist, which enables a broad range of interactions between entities such as individuals and businesses. However Craigslist does not include any formal structures to represent the interacting entities themselves. Thus in effect Craigslist is essentially the same as ByInteraction, but without the structures defined in ByName and BySMB.
As another example Evite is essentially the same as ByEvent, but again, without the structures defined in ByName and BySMB.
These and many other existing web services have been created in a proprietary commercial context, in which the immediate focus is on short term marketability and profit. They have been created without recognition of the broader level of generality in which all such services exist. As a result these services address only part of the requirements of a unified framework for generalized interactions between people and information.
Some work is underway to create a more generalized and unified web structure. One of the better known initiatives is the Semantic Web, a project with the goal of creating a universal medium for information exchange by including semantic (computer-processable) meaning within the web content, thus allowing the web information itself to be directly processable by machines. Some Semantic Web applications have been implemented, but for the most part the Semantic Web as envisioned by its proponents remains largely theoretical.
The By* initiative addresses a much more modest set of goals than the Semantic Web. However there may be some overlap between our own work and the work of others in this field. We leave it to others to make use of the By* ideas as they see fit.