Digitally Signed Attestation Tokens for Verifiable User Consent
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems lack a secure and verifiable mechanism for managing user consent settings regarding data collection and usage across multiple entities, leading to potential misuse and lack of transparency in how user data is handled.
Innovation Solution
The use of attestation tokens that include user identifiers, token creation times, and digital signatures to verify the integrity and authenticity of user consent settings, ensuring that only authorized actions are performed with user data and preventing unauthorized use or data deletion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If user consent settings are stored without verification mechanisms, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to potential falsification and lack of transparency
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by creating digitally signed attestation tokens that contain user consent settings before these settings are transmitted to entities. The digital signature is generated in advance using the user's private key, ensuring that the consent settings are authentic and have not been tampered with. This preliminary cryptographic preparation resolves the contradiction by establishing verification capability before the consent data is actually used.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism in the form of attestation tokens that mediate between the user's consent settings and the entities that need to verify them. These tokens serve as a trusted intermediary载体, encapsulating the consent settings along with cryptographic proof of authenticity. This intermediary structure allows easy transmission and storage while maintaining reliable verification capability.
2Reliability
If digital signatures and verification mechanisms are implemented, then reliability of user consent verification is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by implementing cryptographic verification only where needed - specifically in the attestation token structure and verification process - rather than complicating the entire consent management system. The digital signatures are localized to specific data elements (user identifiers, consent settings) rather than requiring complex verification infrastructure throughout the entire system. This localized application of cryptographic principles improves reliability without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including a method for updating user consent in a verifiable manner. In some aspects, a method includes receiving, from a client device, a request including an attestation token. The attestation token includes a set of data that includes at least a user identifier that uniquely identifies a user of the client device, a token creation time that indicates a time at which the attestation token was created, user consent data specifying whether one or more entities that receive the attestation token are eligible to use data of the user, an action to be performed in response to the request. The attestation token also includes a digital signature of at least a portion of the set of data, including at least the user identifier and the token creation time. An integrity of the request is verified using the attestation token.