Subject: [Wpack] DARE Envelope and Sequence

From: Phillip Hallam-Baker <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2019 15:11:42 -0500

It seems to me that there are two possible ways forward for WPACK

The first is to reuse ZIP, the second is to do a completely new packaging
format. It is not clear which people prefer. If you are going to be going
down the 'new format' route, I would ask that the DARE format be
considered. This will be discussed in part in the MATHMESH BOF on the
Monday:

http://mathmesh.com/Documents/draft-hallambaker-mesh-dare.html

DARE and DARE Sequence were designed to address a different set of
requirements. The idea of DARE Envelope is to provide a JSON/JOSE
equivalent to PCKS#7 with the necessary hooks to support DARE Sequence
which is an append only log file format with incremental encryption and
authentication capabilities (i.e. it supports Blockchain type capabilities
if you want to use that name).

The chief concern in the design of DARE Sequence is to support encrypted
persistence stores. But it was tested as an archive format as a design
check.

I understand that some believe WPACK scope should be narrower, but the DARE
solution is not complex and I find it very difficult to believe that
encryption won't end up being added to any new format as an extension. So I
think it better to accept that from the start.

We should at any rate discuss the possibility of a common approach. I can't
drop my requirement for encryption because the whole point of the Mesh is
to be able to use threshold cryptography to provide true end to end
encryption of stored data. So one use of a DARE sequence might be to record
encrypted comments on an encrypted Web page that neither the Web Server nor
the key service nor any other cloud service has the ability to decrypt.

For those of you who prefer a video presentation, the DARE format is
described here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLsEhzBpfNA&list=PLK2hHAOxepEgGUx4SitfD4pIPHi86KHpi&index=9&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5fRneFOueM&list=PLK2hHAOxepEjcU9yXCqV39B0VB-gB7Abj&index=11&t=2s

The DARE archive format is described here (available Friday)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZDUa6wvDkY&list=PLK2hHAOxepEjcU9yXCqV39B0VB-gB7Abj&index=8&t=4s