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author | Kegan Dougal <kegan@matrix.org> | 2014-09-09 13:51:03 -0700 |
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committer | Kegan Dougal <kegan@matrix.org> | 2014-09-09 13:51:13 -0700 |
commit | 550e8f32ac7a9bc56b57b515c515f85bf264e891 (patch) | |
tree | 1609170728e06c2526ccd98899dc9ac379286b19 /docs/client-server/model/third-party-id.rst | |
parent | Hangup call if user denies media access. (diff) | |
download | synapse-550e8f32ac7a9bc56b57b515c515f85bf264e891.tar.xz |
Move model to client-server for now.
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/client-server/model/third-party-id.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | docs/client-server/model/third-party-id.rst | 108 |
1 files changed, 108 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/client-server/model/third-party-id.rst b/docs/client-server/model/third-party-id.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..1f8138ddf7 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/client-server/model/third-party-id.rst @@ -0,0 +1,108 @@ +====================== +Third Party Identities +====================== + +A description of how email addresses, mobile phone numbers and other third +party identifiers can be used to authenticate and discover users in Matrix. + + +Overview +======== + +New users need to authenticate their account. An email or SMS text message can +be a convenient form of authentication. Users already have email addresses +and phone numbers for contacts in their address book. They want to communicate +with those contacts in Matrix without manually exchanging a Matrix User ID with +them. + +Third Party IDs +--------------- + +[[TODO(markjh): Describe the format of a 3PID]] + + +Third Party ID Associations +--------------------------- + +An Associaton is a binding between a Matrix User ID and a Third Party ID (3PID). +Each 3PID can be associated with one Matrix User ID at a time. + +[[TODO(markjh): JSON format of the association.]] + +Verification +------------ + +An Assocation must be verified by a trusted Verification Server. Email +addresses and phone numbers can be verified by sending a token to the address +which a client can supply to the verifier to confirm ownership. + +An email Verification Server may be capable of verifying all email 3PIDs or may +be restricted to verifying addresses for a particular domain. A phone number +Verification Server may be capable of verifying all phone numbers or may be +restricted to verifying numbers for a given country or phone prefix. + +Verification Servers fulfil a similar role to Certificate Authorities in PKI so +a similar level of vetting should be required before clients trust their +signatures. + +A Verification Server may wish to check for existing Associations for a 3PID +before creating a new Association. + +Discovery +--------- + +Users can discover Associations using a trusted Identity Server. Each +Association will be signed by the Identity Server. An Identity Server may store +the entire space of Associations or may delegate to other Identity Servers when +looking up Associations. + +Each Association returned from an Identity Server must be signed by a +Verification Server. Clients should check these signatures. + +Identity Servers fulfil a similar role to DNS servers. + +Privacy +------- + +A User may publish the association between their phone number and Matrix User ID +on the Identity Server without publishing the number in their Profile hosted on +their Home Server. + +Identity Servers should refrain from publishing reverse mappings and should +take steps, such as rate limiting, to prevent attackers enumerating the space of +mappings. + +Federation +========== + +Delegation +---------- + +Verification Servers could delegate signing to another server by issuing +certificate to that server allowing it to verify and sign a subset of 3PID on +its behalf. It would be necessary to provide a language for describing which +subset of 3PIDs that server had authority to validate. Alternatively it could +delegate the verification step to another server but sign the resulting +association itself. + +The 3PID space will have a heirachical structure like DNS so Identity Servers +can delegate lookups to other servers. An Identity Server should be prepared +to host or delegate any valid association within the subset of the 3PIDs it is +resonsible for. + +Multiple Root Verification Servers +---------------------------------- + +There can be multiple root Verification Servers and an Association could be +signed by multiple servers if different clients trust different subsets of +the verification servers. + +Multiple Root Identity Servers +------------------------------ + +There can be be multiple root Identity Servers. Clients will add each +Association to all root Identity Servers. + +[[TODO(markjh): Describe how clients find the list of root Identity Servers]] + + |