RE: Verifiable Credential Notarization and Third-Party Notary Services Providers: User Scenarios

RE: What Michael might be thinking of is an auditor. That’s a notary that actually validates the VC document as well as the identity of the Subject.

This isn’t correct Adrian.  I believe you have the roles of an Auditor and Notary reversed. What did you intend to say? Maybe what you wrote is the opposite of what you intended?

David’s example captures the role of a Notary perfectly …that is, the formal role, purpose, and function of a Certified Public Notary in common use today (in Canada/USA).

In addition, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notary,


Documents are notarized to deter fraud and to ensure they are properly executed. An impartial witness (the notary) identifies signers to screen out impostors and to make sure they have entered into agreements knowingly and willingly. Loan documents including deeds, affidavits, contracts, powers of attorney are very common documents needing notarization.

The above is not the role of an Auditor role. (My son was an Auditor (and CPA) with PWC.) Auditors look at a sample of detailed facts (in the content, e.g. accounting records as just one example) …data gathering activities, tests and analysis activities …the usual work product being an audit report – signed by a partner on behalf of the auditing firm.  Don’t confuse this last step with notarization.

The primary function of a Notary is to confirm the identity/signature of the person presenting the document …with no auditing/assessment of the content of the document itself.  The person needs to bring an unsigned version of the document to a Notary (usually).  The Notary needs to see the person sign the document and then attaches his/her signature and embossed seal as a legal witness to the *signature* …backed by some identity information like a photo id/passport.


Best regards,
Michael Herman
Far Left Self-Sovereignist

Self-Sovereign Blockchain Architect
Trusted Digital Web
Hyperonomy Digital Identity Lab
Parallelspace Corporation

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From: Adrian Gropper <agropper@healthurl.com>
Sent: July 17, 2021 6:59 AM
To: David Chadwick <d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info>
Cc: public-credentials@w3.org
Subject: Re: Verifiable Credential Notarization and Third-Party Notary Services Providers: User Scenarios

+1 - David’s framing of what notaries do matches mine.

Notaries and auditors are separate examples of trusted third parties. They both sign a VC. The notary is only attesting to an identity on a document. The document is a VC issued by the Subject.

The result is related to what we in the SSI community like to call a VP, I think. In a VP, the document is a VC of the Subject. The notary is not a third party capable of verifying identity. The signature on the VP is just proving that the person being authenticated by the Verifier is the same as the one authenticated by the Issuer. This is a verification of identity only if there was some separate (biometric) validation done by _both_ the Issuer and the Verifier.

What Michael might be thinking of is an auditor. That’s a notary that actually validates the VC document as well as the identity of the Subject. This is much more valuable, and expensive. EY project Nightfall is a great example of ZKP to reduce the cost of audit but I think it requires the material being audited to be on a private ledger if the transactions are to be kept private.

Adrian

On Sat, Jul 17, 2021 at 6:37 AM David Chadwick <d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info<mailto:d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info>> wrote:

Hi Michael

I have a real life example of what you are trying to achieve. I had to sign a deposition in front of a notary that could subsequently be used in court if needed.  So I took the unsigned letter to the notary, and we both signed it in front of each other. The notary is not validating the content of my letter (or blood pressure or anything else). They dont care. They are simply validating my signature, and my identity, as I had to show the notary my passport first before the signing took place. I am asserting the truth of the contents, not the notary. The court will believe my deposition is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from my perspective, since each witness is obliged to do this.

This is the example you should be trying to replicate in A rather than your stated ones.

B does not work in my opinion. If the verifier cannot verify the signature of Sovrona because they do not trust it, then it does not matter how many notories validate the signature. The contents still wont be trusted.

Kind regards

David
On 16/07/2021 22:10, Michael Herman (Trusted Digital Web) wrote:
RE: but I would be uncomfortable as a notary notarizing that a person’s Blood Pressure was 120/80 or any other number as it is dependent on the accuracy of the device and the skill of the individual using it

John, that’ not the point …my apologies if my example was too specific.

Alice simply has 2 numbers to report. …2 metrics Alice wants to send to Dr. Bob …where there exists an existing trusted relationship as a patient of the doctor and doctor to the patient.

Scenario A could, alternatively, be recast as Alice wanting to send an Appointment Confirmation to Dr. Bob’s Clinic …instead of a blood pressure reading.

This is important feedback.

Thank you,
Michael

p.s. When a public notary witnesses your signature on a passport application, for example, they’re simply attesting to the fact they saw you sign the passport application (and perhaps your address information) …not that any of the information provided by you is correct.

From: john@reliableid.com<mailto:john@reliableid.com> <john@reliableid.com><mailto:john@reliableid.com>
Sent: July 16, 2021 1:46 PM
To: Michael Herman (Trusted Digital Web) <mwherman@parallelspace.net><mailto:mwherman@parallelspace.net>; public-credentials@w3.org<mailto:public-credentials@w3.org>; 'David Chadwick' <d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info><mailto:d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info>
Subject: RE: Verifiable Credential Notarization and Third-Party Notary Services Providers: User Scenarios

Not sure of all the background discussion on this, but I would be uncomfortable as a notary notarizing that a person’s Blood Pressure was 120/80 or any other number as it is dependent on the accuracy of the device and the skill of the individual using it
John King

From: Michael Herman (Trusted Digital Web) <mwherman@parallelspace.net<mailto:mwherman@parallelspace.net>>
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2021 2:36 PM
To: public-credentials@w3.org<mailto:public-credentials@w3.org>; David Chadwick <d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info<mailto:d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info>>
Subject: Re: Verifiable Credential Notarization and Third-Party Notary Services Providers: User Scenarios

In scenario A, Alice wants to report an actual blood pressure reading to Dr. Bob's Clinic. ...something like "120/80" ... really the pair of individual numbers. Alice wants the reading to be signed by her and notarized by SOVRONA as trusted notary ...that is, SOVRONA acts as a witness to Alice's signature of her own self-issued blood pressure home reading.
Wrt to your question about scenario B, the Sovronia driver's license should appear to be signed by the Province of Sovronia whose signature is witnessed by SOVRONA, the mutually trusted credential notary.
A and B are actually different examples of the same more generic credential notarization scenario/problem.
Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>

________________________________
From: David Chadwick <d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info<mailto:d.w.chadwick@verifiablecredentials.info>>
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2021 11:05:33 AM
To: public-credentials@w3.org<mailto:public-credentials@w3.org> <public-credentials@w3.org<mailto:public-credentials@w3.org>>
Subject: Re: Verifiable Credential Notarization and Third-Party Notary Services Providers: User Scenarios


Hi Michael

can you please explain these scenarios a bit more for me.

A. The user creates any blood pressure reading they like, true or false, and gets a notary to certify this? Is this what you intended?

B. What is the difference between a Sovronia DL signed with Sovronia's key or with Soveronia's notariser's key if the verifier knows and trusts the right public key?

Kind regards

David
On 15/07/2021 20:45, Michael Herman (Trusted Digital Web) wrote:

I believe there are a large number of scenarios where individual Persons as well as Organizations are going to want to (self) issue Verifiable Credentials using the credential notarization services of a third-party notary service provider.

Here’s 2 user scenarios as examples:



  *   User Scenario A:  (steps A1…A8)
Alice self-issues a blood pressure home reading (BPHR) credential to Dr. Bob’s Clinic using SOVRONA’s credential notarization services. SOVRONA is a third-party notary services provider/network.
  *   User Scenario B: (steps B1…B8)
The Province of Sovronia issues a Sovronia Driver’s License to Alice using SOVRONA’s credential notarization services. SOVRONA is a third-party notary services provider/network.



I have a some drill-down questions (e.g. protocol detail questions) but first, let me ask what general questions/comments have about the validity of the  2 user scenarios depicted below.



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Best regards,

Michael Herman

Far Left Self-Sovereignist



Self-Sovereign Blockchain Architect

Trusted Digital Web

Hyperonomy Digital Identity Lab

Parallelspace Corporation



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Received on Saturday, 17 July 2021 13:47:59 UTC