Pact: Anonymous Credentials for the Web

3 hours ago

Browsers and privacy tools face access barriers like CAPTCHAs and registration walls due to bots, which also hinder new user agents.
Current anti-abuse systems fail as privacy protections remove passive signals and AI solves CAPTCHAs, pushing sites to invasive methods.
Hardware-based solutions like Web Environment Integrity and Private Access Tokens risk centralizing web access and compromising openness.
PACT proposes a decentralized system using Privacy Pass and zero-knowledge proofs to enable privacy-preserving, rate-limited access.
Endorsements from Anchors (e.g., VPNs) are exchanged for Credentials via Moderators, hiding source info to prevent tracking.
The system allows sites to adjust access based on behavior without cross-site identification, supporting AI agents under user accountability.
Open standards via IETF and W3C are sought for collaboration, with a goal to balance web openness, privacy, and abuse prevention.

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