PeerPiper Protocols Green Paper

Executive Summary

The Problem

Our network of connections is the base layer of our social and professional lives.

Yet, managing contact information for both consumers and businesses remains a challenge even with our modern technology. Contacts and accounts are fragmented across different platforms and services, making it difficult to stay connected and up to date.

Because this base layer of contacts and accounts are fragmented, the applications layered on top are also broken and rarely interoperate with each other. For instance, I may have your Yahoo email, which you’ve since abandoned due to spam, and have switched to Gmail. The old phone number I have for you no longer works, and I lack a mechanism to obtain your new one. Perhaps we connected years ago on Twitter, but you no longer use it, leaving me unaware of your current preferred platform. “Sorry for the late reply, I’m not on this platform very often” is an indication that we need to interoperate better.

Having numerous options to connect and the ease of adding new communication channels has ironically left us more disconnected than ever.

The Solution

Imagine being able to connect with someone once and perpetually follow updates to their contact and data changes. Imagine if I could retrieve your new phone number from your old one, or your new address from your previous residence.

The solution to this problem is not to store all this information in a centralized database behind someone’s walled garden. Rather, the solution is to empower users with control over their own data and provide a means for them to connect and remain connected with others in a decentralized environment.

The PeerPiper PeerWise Pointer Protocol presents a novel approach to connect and stay connected with others in a “mecentralized” manner. It is designed to be blockchain-absent and public key transparent, enabling usage with or without blockchains and without gas fees. Serving as a gateway from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, it allows users to effortlessly create, invite, save, share, and even sell their data and applications on the next generation open web using familiar Web 1.0 technologies such as names, emails, and phone numbers.

The solution inherently puts control and ownership in the hands of the user, thus termed “mecentralized,” and is deliberately designed to connect data without collecting it.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Protocol Overview
4. Use Cases
5. Technical Details
6. Conclusion

Introduction

PeerPiper serves as a gateway to the new open internet, facilitating easy connection and sustained connections for users to save, share, and optionally sell their data in the Web3 environment. Our focus lies in connecting data, not collecting it.

PeerPiper PeerWise Pointer Protocol pioneers a novel approach to establishing and maintaining connections in a decentralized environment. It operates independently of blockchains, enabling seamless usage across various networks. By enabling users to create, invite, save, share, and sell their data in Web3, PeerPiper bridges the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 while emphasizing data ownership and control.

Background

In both Web 2.0 and emerging Web 3.0 landscapes, contacts and accounts are scattered across different platforms and services, impeding seamless and ongoing connectivity. PeerPiper PeerWise Pointer Protocol addresses this challenge by offering a decentralized solution to establish and maintain connections, irrespective of whether users possess an email address, phone number, or public key.

Protocol Overview

PeerWise Pointer Protocol

PeerPiper introduces a novel protocol, termed the “PeerWise Pointer Protocol”, to facilitate perpetual connectivity and information exchange between peers. It is “PeerWise” becasue it is established between peers, and it is a “Pointer” because it points to the latest data that peer has available to publish.

The protocol operates as follows:

1. Originator Creates Credential:The originator of the credential generates it for one of their contacts, based on fundamental attributes such as name and number. This credential comprises unique attributes known about the individual, including email address, phone number, public key, social media handle, website, physical address, employer, job title, birthday, or even a shared selfie.

2. Credential Delivery: Once the credential is created, it is securely delivered to the individual through various channels such as email, SMS, social media, or Web3. This ensures exclusive access to the recipient, validating their identity.

3. Credential Acceptance: The recipient accepts the credential using any application running the PeerPiper Protocol, accessible anywhere with an internet connection, including peerpiper.io, personal websites, IPFS gateway, or Arweave gateway.

4. Recipient-Driven Extension: Once accepted, the recipient has complete discretion over extending the credential with additional details. This extension is entirely independent of the sender, who has no control, censorship, or restriction over the information added to the credential. Recipients can personalize their profile by including issuer keys, contact details, data specifics, or any other relevant information according to their preference.

5. Credential Publication: The extended credential is published using the PeerPiper Protocol, comprising the key (attributes plus issuer key) and value (extended additional details and proof of the previously issued credential). This enables others to access updated information.

6. Broadcast and Subscription: Initial broadcast of the key-value pair ensures subscribers receive the initial value. Subsequent updates are facilitated through query broadcasts for the same key. Other peers in the network, or equivalently any “super peer” (a PeerPiper node always online) assists in rebroadcasting in case of sender or receiver offline scenarios.

7. Subscription to Updates: Users subscribe to updates on specific topics, facilitating ongoing connectivity and information exchange.

Use Cases

PeerPiper Protocol caters to diverse use cases, including:

1. Personal Contacts: Facilitating connection and sustained communication with friends, family, and colleagues.

2. Business Contacts: Establishing and maintaining connections with customers, clients, and partners, enhancing professional networking.

3. Social Media: Connecting and engaging with social media contacts, followers, and friends across various platforms.

4. Open Web Apps Enabling connectivity within a new, secure, flexible application ecosystem.

Technical Details

Delegated Anonymous Credentials

At the core of PeerPiper Protocol lies Delegatable Anonymous Credentials (DAC), a cryptographic primitive facilitating issuance of credentials to an audience without prior knowledge of their public key details. DAC streamlines the “invite” process, making it non-interactive, human readable, and thus user-friendly.

DAC ensures that only individuals possessing the originally issued credential and all matching attribute preimages can utilize it effectively. Even if a credential is compromised (e.g., via email hacking), the hacker would require complete attribute information to exploit it fully.

Furthermore, DAC supports secure key rotation and recovery mechanisms, ensuring continued accessibility and control over the protocol. The holder of the DAC simply retreives the originally offered credential (from the email, the text message, the Twitter DM, etc) then re-issues the extended credential with their new keypair. Since discovery is based on the Issuer’s public key, the holder’s key can be easily rotated without disrupting discovery.

Network Publishing

The protocol is blockchain-agnostic and network-agnostic, enabling publication of key-value pairs across various networks. While suitable for broadcast over libp2p (by default), additional networks can be integrated as required.

Conclusion

PeerPiper Protocol revolutionizes the way we discover, identify, and exchange information, fostering perpetual connectivity across platforms, networks, blockchains, and applications. Designed to be “mecentralized,” the protocol empowers users with control and ownership over their data, offering seamless onboarding and user engagement without reliance on centralized authorities.