Re: [jose] An attempt at unlinkable tokens with minimal magic

[Tobias Looker <[e-mail]>]

In general its impossible for cryptography alone to negate all risk at the application layer. Cryptographic schemes that support unlinkability primarily serve to remove what is a strong possible source of correlation.

I think we are also perhaps talking about a narrower application of JWP then where it could actually be applied to (e.g just focusing on attribute based credentials or VC's).
For example a cryptographic scheme supporting unlinkability represented in JWP has possible applications within protocols like privacy pass [1]. A use-case such as this I think goes to your point too Neil which is that purpose-built protocols can help to manage the application-level risk that cryptography alone cannot solution for. To be clear though I don't think that means that the JWP work shouldn't be done because it lacks an accompanying protocol, because there is multiple that could use it.

[1] https://privacypass.github.io/


Thanks,

[Mattr website]<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscanmail.trustwave.com%2F%3Fc%3D15517%26d%3Dw46s4eMXULV_ns1ZfAKYLbVKcqey_PHiW1WeN4boYw%26u%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fmattr.global%252f&data=04%7C01%7CSteve.Lowes%40mbie.govt.nz%7C5a65fe33c70b41fd8ba908d976f3a2f1%7C78b2bd11e42b47eab0112e04c3af5ec1%7C0%7C0%7C637671611076709977%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=tKqCMzLUQNCeORd908YqfqZoT7tCy%2FMVwXdjpch1sDY%3D&reserved=0>



Tobias Looker

MATTR
CTO

[phone]
[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>

[Mattr website]<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscanmail.trustwave.com%2F%3Fc%3D15517%26d%3Dw46s4eMXULV_ns1ZfAKYLbVKcqey_PHiW1WeN4boYw%26u%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fmattr.global%252f&data=04%7C01%7CSteve.Lowes%40mbie.govt.nz%7C5a65fe33c70b41fd8ba908d976f3a2f1%7C78b2bd11e42b47eab0112e04c3af5ec1%7C0%7C0%7C637671611076709977%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=tKqCMzLUQNCeORd908YqfqZoT7tCy%2FMVwXdjpch1sDY%3D&reserved=0>

[Mattr on LinkedIn]<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscanmail.trustwave.com%2F%3Fc%3D15517%26d%3Dw46s4eMXULV_ns1ZfAKYLbVKcqey_PHiW1SbN9fvNg%26u%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fwww.linkedin.com%252fcompany%252fmattrglobal&data=04%7C01%7CSteve.Lowes%40mbie.govt.nz%7C5a65fe33c70b41fd8ba908d976f3a2f1%7C78b2bd11e42b47eab0112e04c3af5ec1%7C0%7C0%7C637671611076719975%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=t%2BidOI32oaKuTJf1AkcG%2B%2FirIJwbrgzXVZnjOAC52Hs%3D&reserved=0>

[Mattr on Twitter]<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscanmail.trustwave.com%2F%3Fc%3D15517%26d%3Dw46s4eMXULV_ns1ZfAKYLbVKcqey_PHiW1WdMte6ZA%26u%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252ftwitter.com%252fmattrglobal&data=04%7C01%7CSteve.Lowes%40mbie.govt.nz%7C5a65fe33c70b41fd8ba908d976f3a2f1%7C78b2bd11e42b47eab0112e04c3af5ec1%7C0%7C0%7C637671611076729970%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=BD9WWyXEjVGlbpbCja93yW%2FzLJZpe%2Ff8lGooe8V6i7w%3D&reserved=0>

[Mattr on Github]<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fscanmail.trustwave.com%2F%3Fc%3D15517%26d%3Dw46s4eMXULV_ns1ZfAKYLbVKcqey_PHiWwGdMoDtMw%26u%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fgithub.com%252fmattrglobal&data=04%7C01%7CSteve.Lowes%40mbie.govt.nz%7C5a65fe33c70b41fd8ba908d976f3a2f1%7C78b2bd11e42b47eab0112e04c3af5ec1%7C0%7C0%7C637671611076729970%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=4AhRuXZCnU5i3hcngo4H3UiNayYUtXpRcImV4slS1mw%3D&reserved=0>

This communication, including any attachments, is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you should not read it - please contact me immediately, destroy it, and do not copy or use any part of this communication or disclose anything about it. Thank you. Please note that this communication does not designate an information system for the purposes of the Electronic Transactions Act 2002.

________________________________
From: jose <[e-mail]> on behalf of Neil Madden <[e-mail]>
Sent: 29 July 2022 19:18
To: Vasileios Kalos <vasilis.kalos=[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: [jose] An attempt at unlinkable tokens with minimal magic

EXTERNAL EMAIL: This email originated outside of our organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.



On 29 Jul 2022, at 01:44, Vasileios Kalos <vasilis.kalos=[e-mail]> wrote:

Hey all,

What JWP allows that I find very useful is the following: the Verifier will learn nothing more than what the user reveals, even if they (the Verifier) cooperate with the Issuer (or anyone else).

Isn’t this somewhat overstating the likely privacy benefits? If the prover reveals _any_ PII to the verifier then the verifier can collaborate with the issuer to discover everything about that user. And we know from many studies on deanonymisation that it is very easy to accidentally reveal enough information to be identifiable. ZK proofs are nice and everything but they only ensure zero *additional* knowledge is gained by the verifier. In practice what is explicitly revealed is often enough.

IMO if you want to have any hope of actually achieving the privacy you want then you really need to design the entire protocol, including specifying exactly what information is to be revealed. I think designing a generic “privacy preserving” message container is likely to give people unrealistic expectations.

— Neil