Enhanced Permissions
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title: "Enhanced Permissions"
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description: "An introduction to the new fine-grained permissions API exposed in libCwtch"
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slug: enhanced-permissions
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tags: [cwtch, hybrid-groups, acl]
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image: /img/enhancedpermissions.png
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hide_table_of_contents: false
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toc_max_heading_level: 4
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authors:
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- name: Sarah Jamie Lewis
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title: Executive Director, Open Privacy Research Society
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image_url: /img/sarah.jpg
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---
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[Last week](/blog/path-to-hybrid-groups), we mentioned that **enhanced permissions** are esential to implementing many of the aspects
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of the new **hybrid groups** design.
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In this post we will introduce the new enhanced permissions api in libCwtch, explain why it is needed, and how future version of Cwtch will manage
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conversation-level permissions.
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<!--truncate-->
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## How do conversation-level permissions work in Cwtch right now?
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Underneath the libCwtch API, all conversations maintain an access control list. For peer-to-peer conversations this list has a single entry, keyed by
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the handle of the contact.
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Currently, this access control list only maintains the `Blocked`-state of the contact. If a user blocks another, then this is where the flag is stored. While
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there are other fields in this list, they have been unused, until now.
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Additionally, each conversation also stored an `Accepted` flag, indicating if the user has approved a contact request. The `Accepted` flag has many different
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effects including whether certain features (like file sharing) are accessible, or whether the connection attempts with the contact are tried automatically.
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## What Are Enhanced Permissions?
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The current approach has several issues. The major one being that profiles have minimal control over how they deal with contacts. Ideally, you should be able to
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automatically attempt to connect with a given cwtch user, but not allow file shares, for example.
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This is the initial driving use case behind Enhanced Permissions. Exposing this underlying ACL and augmenting it with additional flags like `ShareFiles`,
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`RenderImages`, and `AutoConnect`.
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## The API
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Enhanced permissions will be available through a new set of low level libCwtch APIs i.e.:
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```
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UpdateConversationAccessControlList(id int, acl model.AccessControlList) error
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EnhancedUpdateConversationAccessControlList(conversation int, serialized_acl string) error
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GetConversationAccessControlList(conversation int) (model.AccessControlList, error)
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EnhancedGetConversationAccessControlList(conversation int) (string, error)
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```
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As with other libCwtch APIs the `Enhanced` functions speak JSON and be suitable for integration with UIs and other clients that cannot speak the
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Go model.
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`AccessControlList` maintains it's current structure, while `AccessControl` itself has been augmented with the fields
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described in the previous section.
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Existing access-control APIs e.g. `AcceptConversation`, `BlockConversation` and `UnblockConversation` have been updated
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internally to use the augmented `AccessControl` model, and will be able to be safely used by existing and future clients.
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However, the `Accepted` field in the `Conversation` model is now considered deprecated, and will be removed in a future Cwtch version.
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## How will Migration Work?
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To simplify migration newer versions of Cwtch will detect if Enhanced Permissions have been enabled, and if they haven't will automatically turn on
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all new flags for `Accepted` conversations. This will maintain behaviour between versions, and should minimize any potential confusion.
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You will then be able to modify this ACL on a per-conversation level in the Cwtch UI.
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## When will Enhanced Permissions be Available?
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We are aiming to roll out a nightly with Enhanced Permissions in the coming weeks. We will then spend some time iterating
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on the UI to ensure that the new permissions are understandable and usable.
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## How does this fit into Hybrid Groups?
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That is not the end of the story as far as Enhanced Permissions go. As I mentioned above for peer-to-peer conversations the
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ACL has a single entry.
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For Hybrid Groups, this list will have multiple entries, for each member of the group. This will allow group admins to
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control who can post to a group, and what kinds of messages they can post.
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How this list will be maintained, propagated, and authenticated by group members will be a topic of a future development log.
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## Stay up to date!
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As always, we will be regularly updating this devlog [and other channels](https://fosstodon.org/@cwtch) as we continue to make progress towards
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surveillance resistant infrastructure!
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Subscribe to our [RSS feed](/blog/rss.xml), [Atom feed](/blog/atom.xml), or [JSON feed](/blog/feed.json) to stay up to date, and get the latest on, all aspects of Cwtch development.
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## Help us go further!
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We couldn't do what we do without all the wonderful community support we get, from [one-off donations](https://openprivacy.ca/donate) to [recurring support via Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/openprivacy).
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If you want to see us move faster on some of these goals and are in a position to, please [donate](https://openprivacy.ca/donate). If you happen to be at a company that wants to do more for the community and this aligns, please consider donating or sponsoring a developer.
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Donations of **$5 or more** can opt to receive stickers as a thank-you gift!
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For more information about donating to Open Privacy and claiming a thank you gift [please visit the Open Privacy Donate page](https://openprivacy.ca/donate/).
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