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Rename "authentication" to "identity verification"
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README.org
37
README.org
@ -60,8 +60,12 @@ not specified:
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# "clean agreement" on how to attach signatures *to* posts yet.
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# - authorization is not specified
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- Authentication is not specified. Authentication is important to
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verify "did this entity really say this thing".[fn:did-you-say-it]
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- Identity verification is not specified.
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("Identity verification" is the same as "authentication", but since
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"authentication" sounds confusingly too similar to "authorization",
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we are not generally using that term in this document.)
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Identify verification is important to verify "did this entity
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really say this thing".[fn:did-you-say-it]
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However, the community has mostly converged on using [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-cavage-http-signatures-11][HTTP Signatures]]
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to sign requests when delivering posts to other users.
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The advantage of HTTP Signatures is that they are extremely simple
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@ -76,20 +80,19 @@ not specified:
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all users have a library for in their language, so Linked Data Proofs
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have not as of yet caught on as popularly as HTTP Signatures.
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- Authorization is also not specified. (Authentication and
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authorization are frequently confused (especially because in
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English, the words are so similar) but mean two very different
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things: the former is checking who said/did a thing, the latter is
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checking whether they are allowed to do a thing.) As of right now,
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authorization tends to be extremely ad-hoc in ActivityPub systems,
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sometimes as ad-hoc as unspecified heuristics from tracking who
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received messages previously, who sent a message the first time,
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and so on. The primary way this is worked around is sadly that
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- Authorization is also not specified.
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As of right now, authorization tends to be extremely ad-hoc in
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ActivityPub systems, sometimes as ad-hoc as unspecified heuristics
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from tracking who received messages previously, who sent a message
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the first time, and so on.
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The primary way this is worked around is sadly that
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interactions which require richer authorization simply have not
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been rolled out onto the ActivityPub network.
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Compounding this situation is the general confusion/belief that
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authorization must stem from authentication.
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authorization must stem from identity verification (again, partly
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because "authentication" is often used for "identity verification",
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and that term /sounds/ in English too similar to "authorization").
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This document aims to show that not only is this not true, it is also
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a dangerous assumption with unintended consequences.
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An alternative approach based on "object capabilities" is
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@ -544,12 +547,12 @@ In no way do Access Control Lists follow the
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to be able to sensibly trust their computing systems in this modern
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age.
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To be sure, we need authentication when it is important to know that a
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certain entity "said a particular thing", but it is important to
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understand that this is not the same as knowing whether a particular
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entity "can do a certain thing".
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To be sure, we need identity verification when it is important to know
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that a certain entity "said a particular thing", but it is important
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to understand that this is not the same as knowing whether a
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particular entity "can do a certain thing".
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Mixing up authentication with authorization is how we get ACLs,
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Mixing up identity verification with authorization is how we get ACLs,
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and ACLs have serious problems.
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For instance, consider that Solitaire (Solitaire!) can steal all your
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