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Ledger read permissions

Abstract

This subsection outlines the spectrum of read access rights for parties on the ledger.

Motivation

Read permissions allow members to retrieve current data from the blockchain network.

Elaboration

Read access to the information on the ledger may differ for network members and non-members. Network members have generally a wide range of read access rights, as these members are involved in writing to the ledger. Non-member parties may be able to have some read access rights in case of public networks.

Read permissions fall into two categories:

  • technology-based and
  • application-based.

The underlying technology may contain mechanisms to restrict access to certain pieces of information.

Applications can define reading rights based on the membership type. Smart contracts may restrict reading rights to specific members.

Internal references and dependencies

Lists of internal references and dependencies

References to best practice, examples

Ethereum

In Ethereum-based blockchain technologies there is no way to limit the read access of nodes, e.g. to block and transaction information. The application level restrictions are controlled by smart contract code.

Sovrin Ledger Access Policies

Sovrin restricts read rights for tombstones [1]. Sovrin is planning a mechanism to tag data so that it can no longer be accessed. This mechanism will be declared as a tombstone.

Bibliography of selected references

[1] Sovrin Ledger Access Policies V2

RFC-1036
Contributing authors: Andrei Ionita, David Maas
Status of this document: work in progress
Last day modified: 2021-04-13