Decentralized Login Protocol for User-Controlled Personal Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in managing user identities and securing personal data, particularly in peer-to-peer networking environments, where centralized servers are vulnerable to breaches and require costly infrastructure, and applications that monetize user data raise privacy concerns.
Innovation Solution
A decentralized protocol (@protocol) enables users to manage their personal information and data securely through a namespace directory and decentralized resource directories, allowing permissioned access and secure key/value persistence, ensuring data is stored on individual user devices rather than centralized servers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If centralized servers are used to manage user identities and store personal data, then data management and access control are simplified, but security vulnerability to breaches increases and infrastructure costs rise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized identity management system into distributed components. Each user device maintains its own identity credentials and data locally, eliminating the single point of failure in centralized servers. The identity management functionality is divided between users (who control their own data) and applications (which request access), with verifiable credentials serving as the segmentation boundary between trust zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces verifiable credentials and decentralized identifiers as intermediary elements between users and applications. These credentials act as trusted mediators that enable secure authentication and data sharing without requiring direct trust between parties or reliance on centralized server infrastructure. The credential verification process serves as an intermediary mechanism that ensures security while maintaining decentralization.
2Ease of operation
If centralized servers are used to manage user identities, then access control is simplified, but infrastructure costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service identity management where users independently control their own credentials and data without requiring expensive centralized server infrastructure. Users can issue credentials to themselves or have them issued by trusted third parties, and manage their own access permissions. This eliminates the need for costly identity management servers while maintaining access control functionality through cryptographic verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses cryptographic copies (verifiable credentials) of user identity attributes that can be verified without accessing the original centralized database. Applications receive verified copies of user data through credentials, eliminating the need for expensive centralized server infrastructure to store and verify identity information. The cryptographic signatures serve as trusted copies that replace centralized storage requirements.
3Productivity
If applications monetize user data through centralized systems, then data access for services is improved, but privacy concerns increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing different levels of data access and privacy control for different applications and data types. Users can selectively share specific credentials or data attributes with specific applications on a need-to-know basis, rather than granting blanket access. This enables tailored privacy control where each data sharing instance has its own quality and scope, empowering users to monetize or share data with specific applications while maintaining privacy for other data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by requiring users to explicitly grant permission and share credentials with applications before data access occurs. The verifiable credential system enables users to pre-configure what data can be shared, with whom, and under what conditions. This preliminary consent mechanism ensures privacy protection is built into the data access process before any monetization or sharing occurs, giving users control over their data's fate.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for enhanced login processes. A first login page of a website is received that includes a field that enables a user to enter a handle for a decentralized resource directory. A handle for the decentralized resource directory is received in the field and provided to a webserver. A second login page is received that includes a challenge code for the handle. A challenge value is generated based on the challenge code. A location in the decentralized resource directory is determined, based on the challenge value. A request is sent to a protocol server that manages the personalized resource directory to store the challenge value in the decentralized resource directory at the location as a login challenge response for logging into the website. A login result page is received that indicates a result of the webserver processing the login challenge response.