Claims Agent Charter

Name
Active Client Working Group

Purpose
To support the development of active clients and supporting cloud services.

An active client is a computer/device resident software component that provides identity and personal data related services to local applications. Active clients are tightly integrated with browsers via a browser extension.

We believe active clients have the potential to improve:


 * User experience. Once installed an active client can provide a simpler UX for many identity and personal data related interactions with apps/services. Active clients have the potential to offer simple, consistent (e.g. one click) ways to login and register with websites.
 * Security: Active clients can provide protection from some kinds of phishing attacks, and they support higher levels of assurance with less user inconvenience.
 * Privacy: Cloud-based identity solutions (e.g. OpenID) usually describe the user with a globally unique identifier that is highly correlatable; active clients by default provide a privacy-enhancing RP-specific pseudonym, although they also support global identifiers if desired. The architecture of cloud-based identity solutions requires that the IdP be able to track every website the user visits, whereas active clients do not create this concern. Active clients are well suited to support advanced privacy enhancing technologies (e.g. new token types using zero knowledge proofs)

We intend to encourage the development of active clients that support and add value to existing and emerging identity protocols and technologies within a consistent user experience.

Scope

 * To create an active client development community that includes open source, research and commercial efforts.
 * To build relationships with closely related efforts at Mozilla (e.g. Account Manager) and W3C (new initiatives being considered). This includes building relationships with groups that are designing new identity protocols in order to make them work well with active clients.
 * To develop specifications for a cloud-based API for synchronizing state across active clients.
 * To provide funding to active client development projects on computers and mobile devices.
 * To support interoperability testing of active clients.

Principles
See Identity Commons Purpose And Principles

Practices
to be written

Requirements of Participation and How to Join
to be written

Licenses and/or Restrictions on Usage of Work Product
to be written

Current Deliverables and Milestones
to be written

Current Meeting Schedule
to be written

Current Membership
to be written

Current Stewards Council Representative and Alternate
to be written

Current Links
to be written

Related Groups

 * Mozilla Account Manager
 * OpenInfoCard
 * FC2
 * Higgins Active Client

History
This is where the group can share about how/why the group was founded and where will be where quarterly reports will be linked to.