Identity/Firefox-Accounts: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Firefox_Accounts_Architecture.png]]
[[File:Firefox_Accounts_Architecture.png]]


https://mana.mozilla.org/wiki/display/SVCOPS/Firefox+Accounts+Architecture
https://mana.mozilla.org/wiki/display/services/Firefox+Accounts+Architecture


== Services ==
== Services ==

Revision as of 20:20, 7 November 2013

Last updated: 2013/11/07

What Is Firefox Accounts?

Firefox Accounts is consumer account system which provides access to services run by Mozilla, such as Firefox Marketplace and the next version of Firefox Sync. A user can sign in with a Firefox Account to all her "Foxes": Firefox on Desktop, Firefox for Android, and Firefox OS. Signing into a Firefox browser or device gives the user access to integrated Mozilla Services on that browser or device that requires authentication (e.g., Firefox Sync). Longer term we envision that non-Mozilla services and applications will be able to delegate authentication to Firefox Accounts.

Firefox Accounts also functions as a key server for applications that encrypt data, such as the next version of Firefox Sync.

FAQ

Will I be required to create a Firefox Account to use Firefox?

No, of course not! Firefox Accounts will only be required for Mozilla Services that require authentication, such as Firefox Sync and Firefox Marketplace.

How do I create and sign in to a Firefox Account?

Firefox Accounts will work much like authentication works on the rest of the web. You create a Firefox Account with a verified email and password. You sign in to Firefox Accounts with your email and password. Password reset works by responding to an email challenge.

We are currently evaluating creating and logging in to a Firefox Account with a mobile number.

What's the difference between Persona and Firefox Accounts?

Persona is not intended to provide you with a new account, and it's not a new account system. Persona is a federated login protocol. You use Persona to log in to relying sites, and it's not intended that you need to "sign up" for Persona before you can use it. If you would need to sign up for anything, you would need to create an account at an IdP that supports Persona.

One *huge* confusing point about Persona today is a service called the "Persona Fallback", which serves as a proxy IdP if your actual IdP doesn't support Persona (or isn't bridged), which just about every IdP except for Google and Yahoo. In this case, you currently have to sign up for a "Persona Fallback Account" (i.e. choose a password and verify your email) to use Persona.

But a Persona Fallback Account is not a Persona Account, it's not the long term vision of Persona, and that's not supposed to be the happy path of the Persona login experience.

More importantly, for the purposes of this question, a Persona Fallback Account is definitely not a Firefox Account.

So why Firefox Accounts and what will one do?

Mozilla needs an account database to deliver a fantastic, integrated experience across all its products. Unfortunately, delivering awesome services involves some less exciting, but still important aspects, like making sure users have had a chance to inspect our terms of service and privacy policies. We must also comply with local laws and regulations, e.g., COPPA. It would be inconvenient for users to have to verify a terms of service, a privacy policy, and COPPA at each individual Mozilla service. We believe that users should only have to inspect our terms of service, privacy policy, and go through COPPA verification once for all our services. Firefox Accounts enables us to do that. One we get the basics down and enable single sign-on for relying Mozilla Services with your Firefox Account, we hope integrate Firefox Accounts with Persona on the Web and Firefox user agents to make logging in everywhere as painless as it should be.

What information does Firefox Accounts store about the user? Can I use it to store user data for my application or service?

Firefox Accounts stores limited user information, and only stores information that will deliver significant user value across applications or is tightly related to the user's identity. It will not store user data for relying services. Relying Mozilla services can use Firefox Accounts for authentication, but application data storage is the responsibility of the individual applications.

Currently, Firefox Accounts stores the user's email address, a unique identifier, sync encryption key material, and whether you user has read and accepted the terms of service, privacy policy, etc. The existence of a Firefox Account also indicates the user has passed COPPA verification.

Possible future plans:

  • "screen name"
  • avatar
  • mobile number

Can I use Persona to log in to my Firefox Account?

Not initially, but it's something we're investigating to add in the future.

Can I use my Firefox Account to log in to non-Mozilla services?

Not initially, but it's something we're investigating to support in the future.

Does Firefox Accounts provide email?

No.

What services will use Firefox Accounts?

Here's a (probably incomplete) list of services we anticipate you'll be able to log into with your Firefox Account:

What do these terms mean?

  • FTU, FTE: First Time Experience on Firefox OS
  • FxA : Firefox Accounts
  • Jelly: A confusing term that refers to a hosted web page that is injected into more native-looking browser UI. An example of this is about:healthreport.
  • Doughnut: The browser code that wraps the "Jelly" and enables it to interact with chrome code in the browser.
  • RP : Relying Party. Services that use Firefox Accounts for authentication and identity. Currently these are limited to services run by Mozilla.
  • PiCL : Profile in the Cloud. This is a deprecated term that was used to refer to Firefox Accounts + attached services (i.e., relying parties).

What is/where is the schedule for FxA?

  • The larger FF QA team would like to know

Architecture

Firefox Accounts Architecture.png

https://mana.mozilla.org/wiki/display/services/Firefox+Accounts+Architecture

Services

Firefox Account Services is composed of several sub-services, an auth server, a content server, and a crypto helper.

Auth Server

The Auth Server provides an HTTP API that:

  • authenticates the user
  • enables the user to authenticate to other services via BrowserID assertions
  • enables change and reset password operations

Links:

Content Server

The Content Server hosts static assets (HTML, Javascript, CSS, etc.) that support user interactions with the Firefox Accounts. The responsibilities of the Content Server include:

  • hosting Gherkin, a Javascript library that supports interactions with the Auth Server
  • hosting login and create account pages
  • hosting password reset pages
  • hosting landing pages for email verification links

Links:

Gherkin

Gherkin is Javascript client library for the Web that supports operations with Firefox Accounts. In addition to communicating with the Auth Server, it also performs local key stretching (PBKDF2 and scrypt) on the user's password before it's used in the API. Gherkin is hosted by the Content Server.

Links:

scrypt Helper

A portion of the key stretching process uses scrypt, a password-based key derivation function that uses significant amounts of memory. On memory constrained devices, Firefox Accounts provides a helper service for this portion of the key stretching process.

Links:

Desktop

Firefox Accounts integration on Firefox for Desktop is happening in the "elm" project branch. We are also working out of a github repo for "pre-elm" experimentation.

Tracking bug:

Android

Firefox Accounts integration on Firefox for Android is happening in the "elm" project branch.

Tracking bug:

Firefox OS

We are currently focused on how to implement Firefox Accounts in FirefoxOS. This is a collaborative effort working closely with TEF engineers.

Tracking bug:

Our current line of thought is below and a work-in-progress:

L.png

Operations

For now, here are some useful links about Firefox Accounts Operations:

Resources

Mailing Lists

Contacts

  • Leads: Chris Karlof, Jed Parsons
  • IRC: #fxa (general FxA, and FxA on Desktop and Android), #native_identity (for FxA on FxOS)
  • List: dev-fxacct@mozilla.org
  • Engineering: Brian Warner, Danny Coates, Ryan Kelly, Zach Carter, Nick Alexander, Sam Penrose, Shane Tomlinson
  • UX: John Gruen, Ryan Feeley
  • QA: Edwin Wong, James Bonacci, Peter Dehaan

Related

Demos

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