Different Verifiable Credential protocols? (was: Re: Please vote to approve/disapprove the new charter)

On 4/10/20 10:31 AM, Daniel Hardman wrote:
> Should we understand by this that presenting credentials via QR code,
> via BlueTooth/NFC, via sneakernet, and so forth is out of scope?

I'll note that Web-browsers can get access to the camera phone and scan
QR Codes:

https://github.com/schmich/instascan

and Web Bluetooth is released in many of the latest/popular browsers:

https://caniuse.com/#feat=web-bluetooth

... and WebNFC just went into Origin trials in Chrome:

https://developers.chrome.com/origintrials/#/view_trial/236438980436951041

There continues to be confusion around the colloquial use of the word
"Web", which among developers, is mired in the historical protocol that
spawned the Web -- HTTP. The colloquial use is often outdated and wrong.

The W3C is about the "Web Platform", which is not limited to HTTP.
Wikipedia has a decent definition here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_platform

... but here are the other protocols that are not HTTP that are viewed
as being part of the Web platform:

* TLS
* Geolocation (and by extension, the Global Positioning System,
  protocols and data formats)
* Web Sockets (which are not HTTP!)
* Web Of Things (IoT, CoAP, etc.)
* WebRTC (and a whole bunch of IETF specs on signalling
  and media encoding/transmission protocols)
* Web Bluetooth (Bluetooth and its data formats and protocols)
* NFC (again, data formats and protocols)
* Media Capture API (audio and video formats and protocols)

The W3C is not solely about HTTP, and you learn that pretty quickly when
you go to a W3C Technical Plenary, or participate in various standards
groups at W3C. I understand that it's difficult for many to participate
in that way. Fundamentally, the Web Platform is a bridging technology,
connecting all of these disparate data formats and protocols into a
cohesive application development environment.

So communication of Verifiable Credentials over NFC, Bluetooth, WebRTC,
Web Sockets, QR Codes... IMHO, all very much in scope.

-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/
Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
blog: Veres One Decentralized Identifier Blockchain Launches
https://tinyurl.com/veres-one-launches

Received on Friday, 10 April 2020 15:04:08 UTC