DID Spec "Hardening" Proposal (was: Re: DID PR review deadline: October 24)

Folks,

The good news was that there was a TON of interest in the DID spec at Internet
Identity Workshop <http://www.internetidentityworkshop.com/> #25. I gave
three complete presentations on it and we had several other related
sessions.

The bad news (well, not really) is that there was a ton of feedback. People
are really starting to care deeply about making sure the DID spec, as the
foundation for a global DPKI (decentralized public key infrastructure
<https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rebooting-the-web-of-trust/blob/master/final-documents/dpki.pdf>),
is solid as a rock.

On the Friday after IIW I had a long breakfast with Christian Lundkvist
of uPort where we discussed this and developed a proposal for how to
handle *key
descriptions* and *service descriptions* in a data graph so simple it can
be serialized unambiguously in any modern format. Yesterday I wrote up this
proposal in this Google doc
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1amDNmBqu8uXKeEqdoZ2RMaaxiUlqUKyKoyi8YgGWG6M/edit?usp=sharing>
(publicly viewable by anyone with the link).

This proposal also includes the recommendation that interoperability at the
DID layer is so crucial that *every key description* and *every service
description* should have a corresponding spec (even if fairly lightweight).

I have not had a chance to share this with Manu or anyone else yet
besides Christian (to make sure I got it right) and the Evernym DID team
(as a sanity check and to get input on how it helps with DKMS support).

We can of course translate this into an actual PR against the current draft
spec—and we will do that when ready—but it seemed easiest to share it in
this format first for discussion.

Talk to you tomorrow,

=Drummond



On Thu, Oct 19, 2017 at 2:59 AM, Timothy Holborn <timothy.holborn@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Found a relevent IETF RFC[4] re: trust anchors[2]
>
> On Thu, 19 Oct 2017 at 18:09 Timothy Holborn <timothy.holborn@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> very quickly.  was looking at the overview[1] and saw the concept "root
>> of trust <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_anchor>" which hyperlinks
>> to Trust Anchor[2].  I suggest either defining a new wikipedia page for the
>> term[3] rather than simply a redirect, or change the term used in the spec
>> doc.
>>
>> more l8r.
>>
>> Tim.H.
>>
>> [1] https://w3c-ccg.github.io/did-spec/#overview
>> [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_anchor
>> [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Root_of_
>> Trust&action=history
>>
> [4] https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5914
>
>>
>> On Thu, 19 Oct 2017 at 17:49 Timothy Holborn <timothy.holborn@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, 19 Oct 2017 at 08:20 Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 10/18/2017 01:50 PM, Kim Hamilton Duffy wrote:
>>>> > Manu -- what are your thoughts?
>>>>
>>>> Steven, at this point the only feedback we're looking for is only
>>>> technical in nature and even then, based on whether the text reflects
>>>> consensus at Rebooting the Web of Trust 5, which you weren't at.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Is this a RWOT spec?
>>>
>>> If so, it should be marked as such.   This CG can then make one inspired
>>> by it, if/as required.
>>>
>>> Therein, the spec should be moved to the RWOT repo?
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> In other words, the spec isn't ready for your kind of valuable feedback
>>>> yet... it would largely be a waste of your time to correct the large
>>>> swaths of the spec text that may be confusing for non-implementers that
>>>> are buried in the details right now.
>>>>
>>>> I expect that we may need your review help in a few months time from
>>>> now. As always, thanks for offering and we will certainly take you up on
>>>> it once it becomes a good use of your time.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I'll review and have a look; and am not sure of the specifics, whilst
>>> noting important principles herein.
>>>
>>> IMHO: it's important to be inclusive and the W3 IPR framework is not
>>> unintentionally misaligned in some way that is against the spirit of this
>>> structure.
>>>
>>> I  guess.  try not to oversimplify imho.  might end-up with unintended
>>> consequences. (technically speaking).
>>>
>>>
>>>> -- manu
>>>>
>>>> best wishes,
>>>
>>> tim.
>>>
>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny, G+: +Manu Sporny)
>>>> Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
>>>> blog: Rebalancing How the Web is Built
>>>> http://manu.sporny.org/2016/rebalancing/
>>>>
>>>>