15 Sep
2017
15 Sep
'17
11:51 a.m.
I am interested in putting some effort into such a project, it would be of benefit not
only to the AMPRNet Portal, but has wider benefits to other areas of Amateur Radio I'm
involved in. I was looking a while back at how to validate a user for the Portal with the
ultimate goal of issuing certificates similar to LOTW.
It's not directly relevant to this mailing list, so if anyone is interested in
discussing this further, please email me direct.
Thanks
Chris
On 15 Sep 2017, at 13:20, Rob Janssen <pe1chl(a)amsat.org> wrote:
>> >/A good project on AMPRNet would be to setup a user authentication />
>/system that can be /> >/used for our services without running the risk that
some (ab)used /> >/party suddenly /> >/draws back the support, or delays
validation of new applicants (if /> >/only due to lack /> >/of volunteers to
do the validation). /> Now, this is a great idea. Could also be used for IPv6
netblock
>> validation.
>
> Yes, although a more dynamic method like BGP appears to be more suitable for that.
>
> Such an authentication system should offer a method to authenticate users that want
> to log on to some service and it should have some attributes for each user that
> can be used in queries for authentication.
> Things that come to mind:
>
> - does the user have a (verified) amateur radio license
> - category of the license (preferably with allowed band ranges)
> - client certificate(s)
> - password(s)
>
> Probably more can be added.
> The problem of course is the manual work required for license validation.
> We could devise some method to use earlier validations by Echolink and LOTW,
> but when we want to do our own validation we require the volunteers that look
> at scanned license documents and accept/reject them.
>
> An issue is the storage of so much personal information in a database, which
> requires compliance to rules for personal data protection that are (or are
> becoming) quite strict in many countries.
>
> When we would have such a system on AMPRNet (preferably also usable from internet)
> it could be used for many purposes where we are now limited in practice.
> E.g. to set up a next-generation Echolink-like system that is open/free.
>
> Rob
>
>