21,918 research outputs found
A Decentralised Digital Identity Architecture
Current architectures to validate, certify, and manage identity are based on
centralised, top-down approaches that rely on trusted authorities and
third-party operators. We approach the problem of digital identity starting
from a human rights perspective, with a primary focus on identity systems in
the developed world. We assert that individual persons must be allowed to
manage their personal information in a multitude of different ways in different
contexts and that to do so, each individual must be able to create multiple
unrelated identities. Therefore, we first define a set of fundamental
constraints that digital identity systems must satisfy to preserve and promote
privacy as required for individual autonomy. With these constraints in mind, we
then propose a decentralised, standards-based approach, using a combination of
distributed ledger technology and thoughtful regulation, to facilitate
many-to-many relationships among providers of key services. Our proposal for
digital identity differs from others in its approach to trust in that we do not
seek to bind credentials to each other or to a mutually trusted authority to
achieve strong non-transferability. Because the system does not implicitly
encourage its users to maintain a single aggregated identity that can
potentially be constrained or reconstructed against their interests,
individuals and organisations are free to embrace the system and share in its
benefits.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 3 table
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Towards NFC payments using a lightweight architecture for the Web of Things
The Web (and Internet) of Things has seen the rapid emergence of new protocols and standards, which provide for innovative models of interaction for applications. One such model fostered by the Web of Things (WoT) ecosystem is that of contactless interaction between devices. Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is one such enabler of contactless interactions. Contactless technology for the WoT requires all parties to agree one common definition and implementation and, in this paper, we propose a new lightweight architecture for the WoT, based on RESTful approaches. We show how the proposed architecture supports the concept of a mobile wallet, enabling users to make secure payments employing NFC technology with their mobile devices. In so doing, we argue that the vision of the WoT is brought a step closer to fruition
Tool support for security-oriented virtual research collaborations
Collaboration is at the heart of e-Science and e-Research
more generally. Successful collaborations must address both
the needs of the end user researchers and the providers
that make resources available. Usability and security are
two fundamental requirements that are demanded by many
collaborations and both concerns must be considered from
both the researcher and resource provider perspective. In
this paper we outline tools and methods developed at the
National e-Science Centre (NeSC) that provide users with
seamless, secure access to distributed resources through
security-oriented research environments, whilst also allowing resource providers to define and enforce their own local access and usage policies through intuitive user interfaces. We describe these tools and illustrate their application in the ESRC-funded Data Management through e-Social Science (DAMES) and the JISC-funded SeeGEO projects
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