Re: [foaf-protocols] WebID test suite

On 6/28/11 7:07 PM, Peter Williams wrote:
>
> The way I see it is we keep arguing this position - and its simply 
> that ldap is the flash point (rather than anything important). Having 
> argued the need to deal with the web as it is, not the web as it 
> should be,  we find the group goes back - by ones means or another 0 
> to the assumptions of the linked data movement (at the next meeting of 
> the linked data types).
>
> My problem is I no longer believe this group will have any impact this 
> year (or next) - becuase I see research thinking. Its fine as a 
> research project; but there are 10 of those to follow.

I don't know about the group, but we are planning impact right now let 
alone this year.

I have a reply to Henry in my outbox. I just need the verify the live 
service during my working vacation. Basically the is a live service, I 
just need to give it my blessing post final tests.

Henry stayed tuned. Please note, we made GRDDL implementation years ago 
as part of our middleware offering, as I continue to state, these are 
just approaches to middleware. Not being GRDDL doesn't negate anything 
in the middleware game with protocols, data access, and data representation.

Stay tuned for when I get back from my walk and dinner :-)

Kingsley
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:18:44 +0100
> From: kidehen@openlinksw.com
> To: public-xg-webid@w3.org
> Subject: Re: [foaf-protocols] WebID test suite
>
> On 6/28/11 6:53 AM, Henry Story wrote:
>
>
>     On 28 Jun 2011, at 03:10, Peter Williams wrote:
>
>
>          I think you keep ignoring the fact that from time eternal
>         browsers have had ldap clients built in, using LDAP URLs.
>
>
>     I don't ignore it. I even mentioned the ldap url as being a
>     possibility for a WebId.
>
>
> Not a possibility, unless you are truly ignoring the fact that we 
> already support ldap: scheme URIs (as SAN placed WebIDs) in our 
> implementation of WebID. As I keep on saying: URIs are sacrosanct. An 
> IdP is the one to decide which schemes it can handle as part of its 
> implementation of the WebID protocol.
>
>
>
>         The issue is not ldap. its the fact that directories, whether
>         ifs foaf cards, vcards, micro-formats, or any other projection
>         of the directory record stuggle, becuase the security model
>         was not a good social fit. Im convinced websso has got the the
>         heart of that fit problem. And, thus, as you assert, ldap
>         becomes an "attribute source", no different to sql or a foaf card.
>
>
>     Yes, people don't want to open their ldap directories to anyone
>     without protection. But they can only open them globally if they
>     have something like WebID, and if they have a data format that
>     allows for global linkability.
>
>
> Yes, and that's achievable and implemented by us already.
>
>     Ldap started off in the 1980 before the web, and was extended
>     without ever fixing these problems, which of course are difficult
>     to fix. The Web was designed as a hyperdocument platform from the
>     begninning.
>
>
> Yes, so you can transform data to many representations once its clear 
> that the base schema is really conceptual rather than syntactic. 
> Basically, logic delivers the  conceptual schema.
>
>
>
>         Now, what is intresting is that we keep expecting foaf cards
>         (which are just serialized directory records, using a non-LDIF
>         format) to find a fit, somehow addressing what failed in the
>         ldap world.
>
>
>     Foaf is based on RDF, which is designed for Linked Data
>     (hyperdata) scenarios.
>
>     Of course Ldap can participate too, but it would to need to give a
>     clear mapping into the semweb, ie to give semantics so that users
>     from one ldap system can communicate clearly - and without prior
>     agreement on vocabulary - with another ldap system. But as I don't
>     think this is done yet, I think we can skip ldap as a priority for
>     the moment.
>
>
> The spec just has to be agnostic re. URI schemes. The support of any 
> scheme re. WebID is an implementation matter for an IdP that supports 
> the WebID protocol. That's really it. URIs are sacrosanct. Inherently 
> agnostic.
>
>
>     If you find some big ldap vendors who really want to join, then
>     the W3C may be happy to help them semwebise the ldap system, and
>     perhaps ldap urls will combine nicely and often with http and
>     https urls. But my guess is that you will end up with huge
>     resistance there in the ldap world: there will just be too many
>     new things to explain to people. Unless it is shown to work
>     clearly in the most natural platform - the web - they won't take
>     it on.
>
>
> We'll be taking our implementation to them :-)
>
>
>     And after all who cares whether it is ldap or http that is the
>     transport protocol? Certainly not the business people who would
>     finance this.
>
>
> See my earlier comment.
>
>
>
>     Anyway what has this got to do with the WebID Test suite again?
>     Please try to keep the posts on topic.
>
>
> Well you'll see that ldap: based WebIDs work with our implementation :-)
>
>
> Kingsley
>
>
>     Henry
>
>
>         This worries me.
>
>
>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>         From:henry.story@bblfish.net <mailto:henry.story@bblfish.net>
>         Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:43:24 +0200
>         CC:demoss.matt@gmail.com
>         <mailto:demoss.matt@gmail.com>;public-xg-webid@w3.org
>         <mailto:public-xg-webid@w3.org>
>         To:home_pw@msn.com <mailto:home_pw@msn.com>
>         Subject: Re: [foaf-protocols] WebID test suite
>
>
>         On 26 Jun 2011, at 17:23, Peter Williams wrote:
>
>
>             The X.509 standard worked worldwide - albeit mostly
>             amongst universities. It was probably bigger than is the
>             Shib world, even today. This seems to have been before
>             Henry's time (he likes to tell the story that ldap/dap was
>             never web scale, not realizing perhaps that the first
>             directories "on the web" were http -> ldap -> dap
>             gateways...).
>
>
>         The point is the protocol was not made available directly on
>         the web, in such a way that it could be interoperable directly
>         as ldap. For example TCP/IP works at web scale, so does SMTP
>         which is broken, but ldap is used a bit like SQL databases as
>         a back end. There are logical reasons in the case of LDAP and
>         of SQL for this. But I think you keep ignoring them: the URL.
>
>             Today, of course, there are a few 10s of million AD
>             installations, that we  can expect to start connecting up
>             quite shortly, now SAML->AD gateways are going mainstream.
>             What folks refused to do (federate and publish
>             directories), folks seem more willing to do when SAML
>             claims project said directories to a limited network of
>             consuming sites.
>
>
>         Perhaps SAML has more of a chance, it uses a few web
>         technologies: XML and namespaces for one. They even started
>         working on a RESTful variant I heard. I am not a specialist of
>         it.
>
>
>             X.500 also had both simple and strong authentication, and
>             the usual user, consumer (SP) and IDP model. Both could
>             use signed operations between the "IDP" agent (the master
>             agent for the record, in a multi-mastering world), and the
>             consuming agent - some service,  today just like a SAML2
>             SP server, that wishes to obtain a signed confirmation
>             that the user knows a password, compared remotely by the
>             IDP in return for a signed confirmation response). The
>             user presented the password + digested-password to the
>             consumer (!) seeking access to some port, and duely the
>             port guard would issue a compare operation against the IDP
>             agent. Alternatively, the user presented a signed token to
>             the consumer, which verified it in party by "comparing"
>             the cert against the cert in the master record. Again, the
>             IDP would respond to a compare request with a signed token
>             confirming the result o comparing the values. Today, in
>             windows its trivial to issue a signed SAML "request" to a
>             web service on an https port, that is then compared
>             similarly. blog formats have changed - but the model has not.
>
>
>
>             yesterday, I had some fun. In a MSFT sample project, one
>             has ones client code create a "self-signed SAML file",
>             supported by a self-signed cert. One posts this to a
>             azure serivce, which verifies the signature and returns
>             a mac-signed json blob - which one then posts in the
>             www-auth header to a rest service. The claims within have
>             identity, authn and authz claims. Being done on the OAUTH
>             endpoint, its a minor variant of the process to induce the
>             service to redirect to a website, seeking user
>             confirmation etc (in the usual OAUTH backwards-flow SSO
>             flow), There, one can do webid...validation as a condition
>             of release the authz confirmation.
>             If we could get less abstract, reseachy, and less webby -
>             and just fit in with the rest of the web - we'd have a lot
>             more adoption.
>
>
>         Well there are all these other communities to join where
>         people are happy to do that.
>         Nobody is saying we can't be interoperable, btw, I don't know
>         why anyone whould thinks so.  But the intersting thing of
>         WebID - as the name hints in a not too shy manner - is the
>         Webiness. Now that does not stop you from storing your data in
>         an sql database, ldap dp, or nosql datastore. We are not
>         concerned about those here. We abstract them so as to be
>         compatible with anything going on behind.
>
>         Henry
>
>             > Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:45:46 -0400
>             > From:demoss.matt@gmail.com <mailto:demoss.matt@gmail.com>
>             > To:henry.story@bblfish.net <mailto:henry.story@bblfish.net>
>             > CC:kidehen@openlinksw.com
>             <mailto:kidehen@openlinksw.com>;public-xg-webid@w3.org
>             <mailto:public-xg-webid@w3.org>
>             > Subject: Re: [foaf-protocols] WebID test suite
>             >
>             > >Its spec concepttually little or no different to using a
>             directory object from ldap, looking for existance of a
>             cert value in the directory attribute..
>             >
>             > >that is why I distinguish - and we should distinguish
>             more clearly in the spec - between a claimed WebID and a
>             verified one. A WebID presented in the SAN fields of an
>             X509 certificate is a claimed WebID.
>             > The Relying Party/IDP then fetches the canonical document
>             for each WebID
>             >
>             > I find the contrast with a directory object to be
>             particularly
>             > interesting. It's usually the case that the CA is trusted
>             to sign a DN
>             > that corresponds to a directory object in a directory we
>             trust to have
>             > the correct attributes, but I would be interested to know
>             more about
>             > other systems where (as with WebID) the trust
>             relationship is a bit
>             > different. Do any of the SAML profiles do something you
>             would consider
>             > comparable?
>             >
>             > On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 4:31 PM, Henry Story
>             <henry.story@bblfish.net <mailto:henry.story@bblfish.net>>
>             wrote:
>             > >
>             > > On 24 Jun 2011, at 22:00, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
>             > >
>             > > On 6/24/11 7:08 PM, Peter Williams wrote:
>             > >
>             > > The defacto owl sameAs part is really interesting (and
>             its the semweb part
>             > > of webid that most interests me, since its about the
>             potential logic of
>             > > enforcement....)
>             > >
>             > > are we saying that should n URIs be present in a cert
>             and one of them
>             > > validates to the satisfaction of the verifying party,
>             then this combination
>             > > of events is the statement: verifer says owl:sameAs x,
>             where x is each
>             > > member of the set of SAN URIs in the cert, whether or
>             not all x were
>             > > verified .
>             > >
>             > > No.
>             > >
>             > > When an IdP is presented with a Cert, it is going to
>             have its own heuristic
>             > > for picking one WebID. Now, when there are several to
>             choose from I would
>             > > expect that any choice results in a path to a Public
>             Key -> WebID match.
>             > > Basically, inference such as owl:sameAs would occur
>             within the realm of the
>             > > IdP that verifiers a WebID. Such inference cannot be
>             based on the existence
>             > > of multiple URIs serving as WebIDs in SAN (or anywhere
>             else).
>             > >
>             > > Yes, that is why I distinguish - and we should
>             distinguish more clearly in
>             > > the spec - between a claimed WebID and a verified one.
>             A WebID presented in
>             > > the SAN fields of an X509 certificate is a claimed WebID.
>             > > The Relying Party/IDP then fetches the canonical
>             document for each WebID.
>             > > These documents define the meaning of the WebID, of
>             that URI, via a
>             > > definitive description tying the URI to knowledge of
>             the private key of the
>             > > public key published in the certificate.
>             > > If the meaning of two or more URIs is tied to knowledge
>             of the same public
>             > > key, then the relying agent has proven of each of these
>             URIs that its
>             > > referent is the agent at the end of the https
>             connection. Since that is one
>             > > agent, the two URIs refer to the same thing.
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > > Thats quite a claim to make. An more restrcitied claim
>             could be that
>             > >
>             > > Yes, but I don't believe the spec infers that.
>             > >
>             > >
>             > > verifier says webid says owl:sameAs x, where x is each
>             member of the set of
>             > > SAN URIs in the cert, whether or not all x were verified .
>             > >
>             > > No, don't think that's the implication from spec or
>             what one would expect to
>             > > happen.
>             > >
>             > > Kingsley
>             > >
>             > >
>             > > ________________________________
>             > > From:henry.story@bblfish.net
>             <mailto:henry.story@bblfish.net>
>             > > Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:12:59 +0200
>             > > CC:public-xg-webid@w3.org
>             <mailto:public-xg-webid@w3.org>;foaf-protocols@lists.foaf-project.org
>             <mailto:foaf-protocols@lists.foaf-project.org>
>             > > To:home_pw@msn.com <mailto:home_pw@msn.com>
>             > > Subject: Re: [foaf-protocols] WebID test suite
>             > >
>             > >
>             > > On 24 Jun 2011, at 18:45, Peter Williams wrote:
>             > >
>             > > one thing the spec does not state is what is correct
>             behaviour when a
>             > > consumer is prersented with a cert with multiple SAN URIs.
>             > >
>             > > Well it does say something, even if perhaps not in the
>             best way. It says:
>             > > in 3.1.4
>             > > "The Verification Agent must attempt to verify
>             the public key information
>             > > associated with at least one of the claimed WebID URIs.
>             The Verification
>             > > Agent may attempt to verify more than one claimed WebID
>             URI."
>             > > then in 3.1.7
>             > > If the public key in the Identification
>             Certificate matches one in the set
>             > > given by the profile document graph given above then
>             the Verification
>             > > Agentknows that the Identification Agent is indeed
>             identified by the WebID
>             > > URI.
>             > > I think the language that was going to be used for this
>             was the language of
>             > > "Claimed WebIDs" - the SANs in the certificate, which
>             each get verified. The
>             > > verified WebIDs are the ones the server can use to
>             identify the user. They
>             > > are de-facto owl:sameAs each other.
>             > >
>             > > If the test suite is run at site A (that cannot connect
>             to a particular part
>             > > of the interent, becuase of proxy rules) presumably the
>             test suite would
>             > > provide a different result to another site which can
>             perform an act of
>             > > de-referencing.
>             > >
>             > > That is ok, the server would state declaratively which
>             WebIDs were claimed
>             > > and which were verified. It could state why it could
>             not verify one of the
>             > > WebIDs. Network problems is a fact of life, less likely
>             than strikes in
>             > > France - though those have been not been happening that
>             often recently - or
>             > > congestions on the road.
>             > >
>             > >
>             > > This is a general issue. The degenrate case occurs for
>             1 SAN URI, obviously
>             > > - since siteA may not be able to connect to its agent.
>             Thus, the issue of 1
>             > > or more multiple URIs is perhaps not the essential
>             requirement at issue.
>             > >
>             > > A variation of the topic occurs when a given site (B
>             say) is using a caching
>             > > proxy, that returns a cached copy of a webid document
>             (even though that
>             > > document may have been removed from the web). This is
>             the topic of trusted
>             > > caches, upon which it seems that webid depends.
>             > >
>             > > That is what the meta testing agent will be able to
>             tell. He will be able to
>             > > put up WebID profiles log in somewhere, then login a
>             few days later after
>             > > having removed the profile, or changed it and report on
>             how the servers
>             > > respond.
>             > >
>             > >  We would look silly if the average site grants access
>             to a resource when
>             > > the identity document has been removed from the web,
>             > >
>             > > It all depends on what the cache control statements on
>             the WebID Profile
>             > > says. If they state they should last a year, then it is
>             partly the fault of
>             > > the WebID profile publisher. (Could Web Servers offer
>             buttons to their users
>             > > to update a cache?)
>             > > In any case it also depends on how serious the
>             transaction is. In a serious
>             > > transaction it might be worth doing a quick check right
>             before the
>             > > transaction, just in case.
>             > >
>             > > yet cache continue to make consuemr believe that the
>             identity is valid. At
>             > > the same time, given the comments from the US identity
>             conference (that
>             > > pinging the internet during a de-referencing act is
>             probably
>             > > unsunstainable), caches seem to be required (so
>             consuming sites dont
>             > > generate observable network activity).
>             > >
>             > > WebID works with caches. I don't think we could think
>             without. Even X509
>             > > works with caches as is, since really an X509 signed
>             cert is just a cache of
>             > > the one offered by the CA.
>             > >
>             > > This all seems to be pointing at the issue that we have
>             a trusted cache
>             > > issue at the heart of the webid proposal, and of course
>             we all know that the
>             > > general web is supposed to be a (semi-trusted at best)
>             cache.
>             > >
>             > > Caches need to be taken into account. But I don't see
>             this as a major
>             > > problem.
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >> From: henry.story@bblfish.net
>             <mailto:henry.story@bblfish.net>
>             > >> Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:37:26 +0200
>             > >> CC: foaf-protocols@lists.foaf-project.org
>             <mailto:foaf-protocols@lists.foaf-project.org>
>             > >> To: public-xg-webid@w3.org <mailto:public-xg-webid@w3.org>
>             > >> Subject: WebID test suite
>             > >>
>             > >> Hi,
>             > >>
>             > >> In the spirit of test driven development, and in order
>             to increate the
>             > >> rate at which we can evolve WebID, we need to develop
>             test suites and
>             > >> reports based on those test suites.
>             > >>
>             > >> I put up a wiki page describing where we are now,
>             where we want to go.
>             > >>
>             > >> http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/webid/wiki/Test_Suite#
>             > >>
>             > >> Please don't hesitate to improve it, and place your
>             own library test end
>             > >> points up there - even if they
>             > >> are only human readable.
>             > >>
>             > >> The next thing is to look at the EARL ontology I wrote
>             and see if your
>             > >> library can also generate a test report, that folows
>             the lead of the one I
>             > >> put up on bblfish.net <http://bblfish.net/>. I expect
>             a lot of detailed criticism, because I did
>             > >> just hack this together. As others implement their
>             test reports, and as
>             > >> bergi builds his meta tests we will quickly notice our
>             disagreements, and so
>             > >> be able to discuss them, and put the results into the
>             spec.
>             > >>
>             > >> Henry
>             > >>
>             > >> Social Web Architect
>             > >> http://bblfish.net/
>             > >>
>             > >>
>             > > _______________________________________________
>             > > foaf-protocols mailing list
>             > >foaf-protocols@lists.foaf-project.org
>             <mailto:foaf-protocols@lists.foaf-project.org>
>             > >http://lists.foaf-project.org/mailman/listinfo/foaf-protocols
>             > >
>             > > Social Web Architect
>             > >http://bblfish.net/
>             > >
>             > >
>             > > --
>             > >
>             > > Regards,
>             > >
>             > > Kingsley Idehen
>             > > President & CEO
>             > > OpenLink Software
>             > > Web:http://www.openlinksw.com <http://www.openlinksw.com/>
>             > > Weblog:http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
>             <http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
>             > > Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > >
>             > > Social Web Architect
>             > >http://bblfish.net/
>             > >
>             >
>             >
>
>
>         Social Web Architect
>         http://bblfish.net/
>
>
>
>     Social Web Architect
>     http://bblfish.net/
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> Regards,
>
> Kingsley Idehen	
> President&  CEO
> OpenLink Software
> Web:http://www.openlinksw.com
> Weblog:http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen  <http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
> Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen
>
>
>
>


-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
President&  CEO
OpenLink Software
Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen

Received on Tuesday, 28 June 2011 18:26:01 UTC