Key Transparency

Key Transparency is a protocol for the secure and transparent distribution of public keys. It allows the users of end-to-end encrypted messaging services to authenticate each other without meeting in-person. It is currently being standardized by the IETF in the KEYTRANS working group.

The proposed specification has two parts:

• an architecture document (source, diffs) that defines the terminology and interaction patterns involved, and
• a protocol document (to be written) defining the protocol itself.

The right place to ask any questions or keep on top of development is the mailing list, or you can check out the current documents.

Contributing

If you have insights, comments or just want to help, please do join in! We’re particularly interested in hearing from coders who would like to help implement draft versions, and from researchers who would like to formally analyse draft specifications, but all input is valuable. Be aware that all contributions fall under the IETF’s Note Well.