On 9 Aug 2013, at 17:09, Hugh Glaser <[email protected]> wrote:

> Thanks Kingsley,
> On 9 Aug 2013, at 15:09, Kingsley Idehen <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> 
>> On 8/9/13 9:51 AM, Hugh Glaser wrote:
>>> So now all (!!!) I really need to do is make my wordpress site look for the 
>>> ID thing.
>>> Hmmm.
>>> Melvin, did you get any response to
>>> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webid/2012Aug/0041.html ?
>>> Or Kinglsey, what did you do on the server side of your photo?
>> 
>> In my case, I Just made an ACL based on a combination of the identity claims 
>> that I know are mirrored in the WebID bearing certificate. In the most basic 
>> sense, you can simply start with the basic WebID+TLS test which is part of 
>> the basic server side implementation. Thus, I would expect the WordPress 
>> plugin to perform aforementioned test.
> Sorry mate, I have little or know idea what you are talking about.
> What would an ACL look like?

Look at the code at:

https://github.com/stample/rww-play

It shows how you can use curl the unix command line tool to
1. create a document
2. edit the acl with PATCH to make it world readable
3. edit the document with PATCH

all this using an initial implementation of LDP+WebID+WebAccessControl

you'll find links from the github README


> What plugin in wordpress do you mean?
> It is probably the case that this is now too much detail for the list (I 
> think that the whole discussion has been great for uptake of WebID, which is 
> relevant to Linked Data).
> And it is probably the case that I am just too ignorant of the whole thing to 
> attempt to do the server side of ti, especially when it is not a raw site, 
> but Wordpress.
> And people have been too polite to tell me.
> 
> Thanks for your response Melvin; I guess I got a bit mislead (or hopeful!) 
> because Angelo's wp-linked-data plugin has webid as a keyword.
> 
> I think I will now consider myself Retired Hurt 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retired_hurt_(cricket)#Retired_hurt_.28or_not_out.29
>  )!
> I hope to return before the end of the innings.
> 
> Best
> Hugh
>> 
>> BTW -- When you distribute pkcs#12 files, the receiving parties don't 
>> actually need to have any knowledge of the actual ACL that you use to 
>> protect the resources being shared :-)
>> 
>> Kingsley
>>> 
>>> Cheers
>>> 
>>> On 9 Aug 2013, at 13:25, Kingsley Idehen <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> On 8/9/13 7:47 AM, Norman Gray wrote:
>>>>> Henry, greetings.
>>>>> 
>>>>> [replying only on public-lod]
>>>>> 
>>>>> Bit of an essay, this one, because I've been mulling this over, since 
>>>>> this message appeared a couple of days ago...
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 2013 Aug 8, at 16:14, Henry Story wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 7 Aug 2013, at 19:34, Nick Jennings <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 1. Certificate Name: maybe there could be some examples of ways to name 
>>>>>>> your certificate.
>>>>> [...]
>>>>>> That's why it should be done by the server generating the certificate.
>>>>>> The details are here:
>>>>>> https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/WebID/raw-file/tip/spec/tls-respec.html#the-certificate
>>>>> I appreciate the logic here, and can see how it works technically 
>>>>> smoothly for the anticipated use-case (the one illustrated in the WebID 
>>>>> video on the webid.info front page).  I don't think that's enough, 
>>>>> however, because I don't think I could convincingly explain what's 
>>>>> happening here, to a motivated but non-technical friend who wants to 
>>>>> understand what they've just achieved when I've walked them through 
>>>>> getting their WebID certificate from (something like) the social service 
>>>>> illustrated in the video.
>>>>> 
>>>>> People understand what a username & password is (the first is my 
>>>>> identity, the second is a secret that proves I am who I claim), and they 
>>>>> understand what a door-key is (no identity, but I have this physical 
>>>>> token which unlocks a barrier for anyone in possession of the token or a 
>>>>> copy).
>>>>> 
>>>>> The same is not true of a WebID.  Making this a one-click operation is 
>>>>> nice (and a Good Thing at some level), but just means that the user knows 
>>>>> that it was _this_ click that caused some black magic to happen, and I'm 
>>>>> not sure that helps.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Therefore...
>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 2. With firefox, after filling out the form, I get a download dialogue 
>>>>>>> for the cert instead of it installing into the browser. So I saved, 
>>>>>>> then went into preferences and "import" ... which was successful with 
>>>>>>> "Successfully restored your security certificate(s) and private 
>>>>>>> key(s)". Previously, with my-profile.eu, this was automatically 
>>>>>>> installed into the browser (I was using Chrome then). Though I guess 
>>>>>>> it's better to have it export/save by default so you can install the 
>>>>>>> same cert on any number of browsers without hassle. Still, it creates 
>>>>>>> more steps and could be confusing for new users.
>>>>>> In the case of WebID certs downloading the certificate is in fact silly 
>>>>>> as you can produce a different one for each browser. So that message is 
>>>>>> a little
>>>>>> misleading. A good UI should warn the user about that.
>>>>> Thinking about it, and exploring the behaviours again this week, I'm more 
>>>>> and more sure that the browser is a problematic place to do this work.  
>>>>> _Technically_, it's exactly the right place, of course, and the HTML5 
>>>>> keygen element is v. clever.  But it's killing for users, and coming back 
>>>>> to WebIDs and certificates this week, and parachuting into this 
>>>>> discussion here, I've been a 'user' this week.
>>>>> 
>>>>> A 'web browser' is a passive thing: it's a window through which you look 
>>>>> at the web.  It quickly disappears, for all but the most hesitant and 
>>>>> disoriented users; in particular it's not a thing which takes _actions_, 
>>>>> or where you can store things.  That means that the browser creating the 
>>>>> key-pair, and storing the server-generated certificate, is literally 
>>>>> incomprehensible to the majority of anticipated users.
>>>>> 
>>>>> And even to me.  I have an X.509 e-science certificate which needs 
>>>>> renewing every year, and every year I stuff up this renewal in one way or 
>>>>> another: the certificate isn't in the right place, or I try to retrieve 
>>>>> the replacement with a different browser from the one which generated the 
>>>>> CSR, or something else which is sufficiently annoying that I purge the 
>>>>> experience from my memory.  And I understand about certificates and the 
>>>>> whole PKI thing -- someone who doesn't is going to find the experience 
>>>>> bamboozling, hateful and stressful.
>>>>> 
>>>>> It sounds as if Hugh is going to generate his users' certificates 
>>>>> off-line and distribute them; I got a little warm glow when I generated a 
>>>>> WebID certificate (offline) using Keychain Access (KA), and then another 
>>>>> using Nicolas Humfrey's script, and imported it into KA; when the UK 
>>>>> e-science CA (above) started using a downloaded Java webstart application 
>>>>> to do the renewal requests, it was massively easier on my head, even 
>>>>> though the application itself wasn't going to win any design prizes.
>>>>> 
>>>>> In each case, there was a 'thing' -- a 'certificate' -- which I can see 
>>>>> on my desktop and then store securely in my 'keychain', and I can 
>>>>> comprehend that I should think of it as a 'passport' or 'identity card', 
>>>>> since that's a familiar thing which, like the WebID, is a proof of 
>>>>> identity which might give me access to things on various grounds.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm willing to be persuaded (presuming I'm not on OS X and willing to let 
>>>>> KA look after this) that my browser has a 'keychain' and that I have to 
>>>>> put this passport/id-card in there and leave it there.  I'm a bit 
>>>>> uncomfortable with that, since I wouldn't want to leave my passport lying 
>>>>> around where I can't see it, but if you tell me that's safe, I suppose 
>>>>> I'll go along with that.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The crucial thing here is that I can see this 'certificate' file sitting 
>>>>> on my desktop, and I got that because someone gave it to me, or because I 
>>>>> downloaded an application and pressed a button saying 'make me a WebID'.  
>>>>> I then _did something_ with that certificate file, so I have at least 
>>>>> some vague sense that I've _stored_ that certificate somewhere, in a way 
>>>>> that is subsequently proffered by my browser.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm happy to have my certificate in a 'keychain', because that sounds 
>>>>> like it's an application which is designed to keep things safe.  I think 
>>>>> I'd still be unhappy keeping this 'in' my browser, because that feels 
>>>>> like I'm storing my passport in a pocket attached to the glass of my 
>>>>> window, which is obviously mad.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I don't have an easy solution to this -- I can see all the problems with 
>>>>> creating applications which users have to run to generate WebIDs, and 
>>>>> regarding which they then have to be given follow-up instructions.  But 
>>>>> doing this in the browser, though technically neat and correct, may have 
>>>>> killing UI/model problems, as described above (because of the 
>>>>> invisibility and passivity of the browser in most people's conception), 
>>>>> and these problems may make this the browser-generation route less 
>>>>> successful in the end.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----
>>>>> 
>>>>> Codicil 1:
>>>>> 
>>>>>>> In general, that brings up some thoughts for me, maybe here's the place 
>>>>>>> to share them. It would be cool in browsers could bake the idea of a 
>>>>>>> WebID into the persona/profile of the browser session. (ie. chromes 
>>>>>>> profiles, and firefox has a profile plugin). Just allowing (by default, 
>>>>>>> i guess) one WebID per persona. This way you are encouraged to manage 
>>>>>>> different profiles at the browser level, rather than juggling a bunch 
>>>>>>> of certificates with naming hacks to figure out which is which... ?
>>>>>> You can contribute your feedback as bug reports to the browsers.
>>>>>> A place to start is here:
>>>>>> http://www.w3.org/wiki/Foaf%2Bssl/Clients#Further_User_Interface_Issues
>>>>> Oooh, they're awful.  I just checked, and I submitted an Apple bug report 
>>>>> about this -- detailing the awfulness and inadequacy of Safari's and 
>>>>> Keychain Access's UIs here -- back in October 2008, which finally 
>>>>> received "We are closing this bug since our engineers are aware of the 
>>>>> issue and will continue to track it" in November 2011, and nothing since. 
>>>>>  *sigh*
>>>>> 
>>>>> Codicil 2:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Please let us know if you can think of improvements to the spec text, as 
>>>>>> we will be
>>>>>> publishing it soon.
>>>>> Something I just noticed: In section 2.1.2 of tls-respec.html, the 
>>>>> language feels a little rough.  Can I offer:
>>>>> 
>>>>> ...by using the HTML 5 keygen element.  This element can be placed in an 
>>>>> HTML5 form, where it acts as follows: just before it submits the form, 
>>>>> the browser asks the Key Store to create a public and private key pair, 
>>>>> and when it receives the public part of the key from the store, it wraps 
>>>>> this in a key request, as part of the form it sends to the Service. The 
>>>>> Service can then create a WebID Certificate, and return this to the 
>>>>> Client to pass back to the Key Store; the private key never leaves the 
>>>>> secure Key Store. This exchange allows the Server to make the decision 
>>>>> about what the Certificate should say, and what the WebID should be, 
>>>>> since it is probably in the best place to do so. The user experience for 
>>>>> this Certificate creation is a one click operation.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----
>>>>> 
>>>>> I hope all this rambling is useful.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Best wishes,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Norman
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> +1
>>>> 
>>>> In addition to the above, note that IE doesn't support <keygen/>. We had 
>>>> to make a .NET equivalent of a signed applet to create what (on the 
>>>> surface) looks like the normal <keygen/> flow.
>>>> 
>>>> Having played around with many workflow scenarios over the years, we 
>>>> concluded that <keygen/> should simply be an option, but not the default.
>>>> 
>>>> Hugh introduced a use-case that does actually reflect how many will be 
>>>> introduced to this concept i.e., the most tech savvy person in the friend 
>>>> network will generate WebID bearing certificates offline, and then 
>>>> distribute to other friends. The same thing will happen amongst family 
>>>> members -- something I've already experienced personally -- where the  
>>>> following workflow steps provided a solution:
>>>> 
>>>> 1. I took a photo of the kids
>>>> 2. I notified some family members about the photos -- via an email that 
>>>> includes pkcs#12 file attachments or download URLs
>>>> 3. I let them know that seeing the photos requires clicking on the pkcs#12 
>>>> file -- so that they can use it as proof of identity when viewing the 
>>>> shared photos
>>>> 4. I shared the pkcs#12 password with them (phone, sms, separate email 
>>>> etc..)
>>>> 5. done.
>>>> 
>>>> -- 
>>>> 
>>>> Regards,
>>>> 
>>>> Kingsley Idehen    
>>>> Founder & CEO
>>>> OpenLink Software
>>>> Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
>>>> Personal Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
>>>> Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
>>>> Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
>>>> LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Kingsley Idehen      
>> Founder & CEO
>> OpenLink Software
>> Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
>> Personal Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
>> Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
>> Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
>> LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

Social Web Architect
http://bblfish.net/


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