I am creating this thread to start a discussion on how IPFS can be used to improve data availability and reduce Issuer hosted data dependence. I am very interested in actively pursuing this topic for my MSc thesis and am looking to learn about the community’s thoughs on this.
The usage of IPFS is mentioned several times in this Forum as well as in the github page.
My understanding from reading those is that one desirable feature of this system is to not be dependent on certificate Issuer’s hosted data.
At this time Issuer hosted data is required to:
- Verify that a certificate has not been revoked;
- Retrieve certificates - Altough a certificate receiver may hold a copy of the certificate on its certificate wallet, he may chose to share the certificate by sending a URL linking to the Issuer’s copy (the Issuer should have a copy).
Topic 1) is somewhat complex and is already being discussed on another post.
Regarding topic 2) wouldn’t it be possible to have an issuer automatically make the certificate available via IPFS?
I think this could be implemented either in Cert-tools or Cert-issuer.
Please let me know your thoughts on this, maybe there are other considerations that I am failing to take into account.
-João