Reclaim Protocol: a System for Claiming and Managing Self-Sovereign Credentials

Abstract

TLS is a widely used security protocol that allows a user and server to privately and securely communicate. However, the data that users receive through this protocol is not typically signed by the server, and so the user cannot prove where the data came from to any third-party. In recent years there have been various proposals for solving this problem without the need for any server-side modification or permission. In this whitepaper we describe the Reclaim protocol, which allows for computationally efficient, secure and private generation of proofs of provenance (PoP) completely on client side that users can then share to any third-party. Furthermore, users can generate zero-knowledge proofs of features of their data to avoid sharing sensitive information. We also describe a decentralized extension of the protocol that eliminates the need to use any trusted parties, by implementing an economic mechanism to incentivize honest behavior.