Launch HN: Spruce (YC W21) – OSS for User Owned and Provably Authentic Data
63 pointsby wyc9 comments
The JWT specification itself is not trusted by security experts. This should preclude all usage of them for anything related to security and authentication.
> A 16-year-old with no credentials and no capital could just do things. The world of bits offered the freedom to build without being drowned in arbitrary constraints, in a way that didn’t require assembling vast capital or prestige or connections, where your creativity and work could speak for itself, and you had agency.
1. Get JWT (private)
2. Present JWT
1. Get JWP precursor (private)
2. Generate JWP from JWP precursor (private)
3. Present JWP
Spruce lets users control their data across the web. Instead of users logging into platforms, we believe platforms should request to access data vaults controlled by users.
The demand for trusted digital ID is accelerating as AI deepfakes begin to destroy most of the ways we use to verify identity today. How private or secure is it to hold your driver's license or passport up to a webcam to get a bank account? Was it ever private or secure? Stable diffusion can break so much of this already. Society will need trusted digital IDs and credentials. Our mission is to allow them to be controlled by individuals, with safeguards to prevent descents into surveillance states and checkpoint societies.
We are the main implementers of category-defining initiatives such as the digital ID program for the California DMV, and the verifiable digital credentials program in Utah. We are private sector participants in NIST's National Cyber Security of Excellence initiative for privacy-preserving digital ID.
We are hiring skilled engineers who care about making a real impact in improving public services, digital autonomy, and user privacy for the world. We work closely with public sector agencies, and have high regard for public servants. We have a strong engineering and customer-oriented culture, and are not simply a SaaS product or AI wrapper. Our roles are not for the faint of heart: you will be expected to work hard and learn a lot in this role.
Our engineers are ambitious to get outcomes for our customers and their constituents. On any given day, they may write great Rust/C#/TypeScript, deal with mainframe dumps, read policy documents, respond to technical RFIs/RFPs, manage on-prem environments, implement new NFC + Bluetooth protocols in Swift/Kotlin, create CI/CD processes that enforce W3C accessibility guidelines and i18n requirements, rewrite lost specs from disassembled binaries, figure out stablecoin payments, and design new protections for public key infrastructure. It is a team effort, and people with T-shirt shaped skills are able to collaborate and learn a ton from each other every day.
We are interested in candidates who want to be proud of the meaningful impact they make for society, even if it takes time to get right. This is not the right job for someone who wants to "join a cool new AI startup" that implodes or exits in under a year.
See our roles here: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/spruceid