Capabilities, Internet Style - Part 2

I think the primary feature that capabilities have to offer to an internet environment is one of isolation intent from authentication.

Now... that's pretty obtuse, and I might have even said it wrong... I'll expound on it for a bit.


I want to be able to generate a token that gives access to a resource on the internet. I want to be able to do it in a way that only requires holding the token, with no other authentication necessary. I want to be able to issue multiple tokens to access the same resource. I want to be able to revoke a token without ambiguity. (I don't care about copies of the resource, that's a branch into the murky world of DRM)

I think the simplest way to do this is to write a proxy server that has the local authority to access a given resource, and to allow it to maintain the database of tokens, and to mediate access to the resource. I hope that this could eventually be folded into the operating systems, or even the kernel of Linux at some future point.

For now, a proxy, no matter how inefficient will suffice to demonstrate principles and help popularize capabilities as an better alternative to handing over authentication information to code you can't trust.

For now, the proxy has to allow a local user to generate access tokens, manage an access control list, and enforce it. I think that something that works locally and can be accessed via HTTP is the way to go.

I'll start working on a prototype... probably in Python, to help get this ball off the ground.

I'm interested in collaboration in all aspects of this project.


So... from a user perspective, you don't get much. You already have full access to your stuff. You get a toy which hopefully can allow you to sandbox access to a file and give it away, without your username or password being involved. (Unless of course the code in the proxy is bad, and goes all confused deputy on you)

Being able to give away access without sharing usernames or passwords helps make your internet node more valuable, because you can innovate once again. Heck, you might even get to the point where Metcalfe's law starts to apply again and get some real value going.



I hope that wasn't too far out for everyone.

What do you all think?

--Mike--