One other small remark: I assume that a single software statement is
distributed to many OAuth clients whereas the initial access token is
only distributed to a single OAuth client. Is that correct? Is that the
envisioned relationship?

On 06/12/2014 09:50 AM, Hannes Tschofenig wrote:
> Hi Phil,
> 
> thanks for your response. A few remarks below.
> 
>>> I am particularly interested to learn who issues the initial
>>> access token and the software statement? What is the purpose? What
>>> does it authorize?
>>
>> These tokens have very different characteristics. The Software
>> Statement is not a security token. It is a statement that locks the
>> registration profile for client software and provides AS endpoints
>> with a way to recognize client software since they do not have a
>> client_id yet. In practical terms, AS endpoints can set policy to
>> automatically approve reject based on specific statement, or content
>> rules (software_id, version etc) or even approve based on the signer
>> of the statements (e.g. allow registration for any client software
>> statement signed by Cisco).
> 
> The software statement is hopefully signed and you are going to make
> some security relevant decisions based on it. Whether you call it a
> security token or not does not really matter that much.
> 
>>
>> Typically, the statement would be generated once (for all copies
>> distributed) by the developer, publisher, or a collective
>> organization.
> 
> I think it would be useful to add information about who creates it,
> particularly since the document introduces these parties (at least the
> client developer, and the software API publisher).
> 
> You might also expand a bit on what you mean by "generated once" to give
> guidance on when a new software assertion needs to be generated vs. when
> a previous one can be re-used.
> 
>>  This is particularly useful when the publisher of an
>> API  is not the same organization as the deployers of the actual API
>> endpoints following a common open API specification. For example,
>> OpenID Connect would be one such example.
> 
> OpenID Connect would not have come to my mind here since OpenID connect
> is neither a client developer nor a software API publisher (at least in
> my understanding of the terminology defined in the dynamic client
> registration document).
> 
>>
>> In the early OAuth1 and 2 days, most use cases had the API publisher
>> and the deployer as the same organization. A client_id could be
>> issued in advance and could be used as both credential id and
>> software identifier.  In the evolving world, we have lots of cases
>> (e.g. OpenID Connect) where the organization that defines the API
>> specification is not the same as the one operating implementations of
>> the API specification.  Client_id can’t serve both purposes.
>> Software statement fills the gap allowing client software to use a
>> client statement “claim” that can be “exchange” for a deployment
>> assigned client_id.
> 
> I think that this would be useful background motivation for the draft; I
> disagree with the mentioning of OpenID Connect based on my previous
> comment.
> 
>>
>> Initial access token is a security token that allows the client to
>> register in a closed/restricted registration endpoint where anonymous
>> registration may not be allowed.  Useful in some environments where
>> an IT organization might re-package a client for distribution on an
>> internal or private system.
>>
>> Where the software statement is issued by either the developer or the
>> API specification organization, the initial access token is typically
>> issued by the “domain” (or an organization affiliated with it) where
>> the client intends to register.
> 
> Using the terminology from the dynamic client registration draft the
> initial access token is issued by the "Deployment Organization". This
> would be important information to add to the document!
> 
> Ciao
> Hannes
> 
> 
> 
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