Re: removing keygen from HTML

> On 30 May 2016, at 11:40, Chaals McCathie Nevile =
<[email protected]> wrote:
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> Hi folks,
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> there is an open issue [1] and open call for consensus [2] to remove =
keygen from HTML. Since the TAG, or its members, appear to have opinions =
about our spec, we'd be grateful to hear them.

I note that the same mail to the public-html mailing list [2] has for
deadline the 29 May and that this mail to the TAG was sent the day =
thereafter.
So I hope this mail from Charles is meant as an indicator that the =
deadline
for comments has been somewhat extended.

It should be noted indeed that the TAG is actually discussing
this issue which cuts across quite a number of areas in

 https://github.com/w3ctag/client-certificates

Here are points against removing it at present:

1) There is no good replacement for keygen at the moment
2) The "security problem" with keygen with weaknesses of MD5 is actually=20=

  not a deep problem for current usages of certificates. There are =
usages=20
  where it is important but that can be fixed by improving the hashing =
using=20
  this or another protocol. But then we are back at 1) above.
3) What is required is a way for a private key to be creaated and saved =
in the=20
  browser (or by an attached hardware device), be tied to a certificate =
or=20
  credential in whatever syntax is desired ( currently X509 is widely =
used ),=20
  that can then be used across  origins when under the users control. =
This is=20
  what keygen does pretty well now. We are all looking forward to =
something=20
  better. See 1) above.

Keygen is in fact incredibly useful as demonstrated by the WebID-TLS =
protocol
   https://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/webid/spec/tls/

Keygen need not be tied to TLS, but could be used with more HTTP2/0 =
friendly protocols
such as extensions to TLS client certificate authentication=20

   https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-thomson-http2-client-certs-01

or perhaps simpler proposals such as http-signature
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  https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-cavage-http-signatures-05

that can work with the Web Crypto API.

Again, before removing keygen a replacement should be found. Keygen has
the advantage of reducing to the minimum the need for application =
developers
to work with cryptography. Most of the work is moved to the TLS layer =
which is
getting a huge amount of oversight, and in which progress is being made.


The web never was perfect, and in the space of security perfection is =
not
achievable. What is possible is improvements. And so those wishing to =
remove
keygen should state what the problems are, and propose an improvement, =
not
remove some key feature many depend on.

Again please refer to:

 https://github.com/w3ctag/client-certificates

Thanks,

	Henry Story

PS. The Work on WebID is only an initial consensus we have been able
to reach, a lot more is possible in that space...

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> cheers
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> Chaals
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> [1] https://github.com/w3c/html/issues/43
> [2] http://www.w3.org/mid/[email protected]
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> --=20
> Charles McCathie Nevile - web standards - CTO Office, Yandex
> [email protected] - - - Find more at http://yandex.com
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