-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 4
Expand file tree
/
Copy pathdraft-howe-vcon-lifecycle-00.txt
More file actions
1176 lines (798 loc) · 48.5 KB
/
draft-howe-vcon-lifecycle-00.txt
File metadata and controls
1176 lines (798 loc) · 48.5 KB
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
vcon T. McCarthy-Howe
Internet-Draft Strolid, Inc.
Intended status: Standards Track S. Lasker
Expires: 22 January 2026 Independent
D. James
Marashlian & Donahue, PLLC
21 July 2025
vCon Lifecycle Management using SCITT
draft-howe-vcon-lifecycle-00
Abstract
This document proposes using the SCITT (Supply Chain, Integrity,
Transparency, and Trust) protocol to record, communicate and
coordinate the lifecycle of Virtual Conversations (vCons), which are
standardized containers for conversational data like call recordings,
transcripts, and chat logs. While vCons enable capturing and sharing
conversation details for AI analysis and business purposes, they lack
mechanisms for proving compliance with privacy regulations and
consent management. SCITT addresses this by providing an immutable,
append-only transparency ledger that records key lifecycle
events—from vCon creation and consent management to call recording,
as well as data processing and deletion—enabling entities to
demonstrate regulatory compliance and maintain trust across
distributed systems. The framework specifically addresses consent
management challenges under regulations like GDPR and CCPA, where
consent can be revoked at any time, requiring coordinated deletion
across all parties that have received the vCon. By combining vCons
with SCITT, organizations can build scalable, transparent governance
systems that protect personal data rights while enabling responsible
use of conversational data for AI and business applications.
About This Document
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.
The latest revision of this draft can be found at
https://howethomas.github.io/vcon-dev/draft-howe-vcon-lifecycle.html.
Status information for this document may be found at
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-howe-vcon-lifecycle/.
Discussion of this document takes place on the Virtualized
Conversations Working Group mailing list (mailto:vcon@ietf.org),
which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/vcon/.
Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/vcon/.
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
https://github.com/vcon-dev/draft-howe-vcon-lifecycle.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on 22 January 2026.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components
extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Acts of Trust and Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2. Standards-Based Interoperability . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3. What Differentiates SCITT from a Database . . . . . . . . 6
2. Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. vCon Lifecycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1. Example Use Case: Consent Management . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2. vCon Lifecycle Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2.1. Creation, Distribution and Deletion . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2.2. Digital Rights Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.3. Amendment of Existing vCons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4. Detailed Use Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
4.1. vCon Create, Consent and Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.1.1. Data Originator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1.2. Data Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.1.3. Data Processor(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2. Revocation and the Right to Be Forgotten . . . . . . . . 15
4.2.1. Data Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2.2. Data Controller Revocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2.3. Data Processor Revocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5. vCon Lifecycle Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
7. Privacy Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Appendix A. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1. Introduction
Virtual Conversations (vCons) draft-vcon
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/vcon/about) are powerful means of
capturing and collaborating on the details of human conversations,
built to travel. They feed AI systems, enable entities to respond
more accurately to customer needs, and manage the health of their
business more effectively. The vCon working group focuses on passing
conversational data, such as data commonly generated and collected in
business and security environments, from chat logs to transcripts to
recordings.
Most systems provide a way to store such information, but there are
few standards or interoperability within the storage or transmission
mechanisms. vCon is a framework for capturing and collaborating on
the details of a Virtual Conversation, feeding AI systems, and
enabling entities to respond to customer needs more accurately and
manage their business's health more effectively.
The two opposing forces influencing such information passing are
trying to enforce personal data and communications privacy and
providing the ability and interest to use conversations in various
ways, e.g., AI analysis.
Although vCons are tools that enable actors to do the right thing,
they are not tools that enable actors in a distributed system to
prove it. However, when combined with the SCITT protocol draft-scitt
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/scitt/about), proof becomes
practical. SCITT allows Relying Parties to obtain information
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
pertinent to the lifecycle of a vCon in a "transparent" way. SCITT
achieves this by having producers publish information in a
Transparency Service, where Relying Parties can check the
information.
These relying parties can then use this information to make decisions
based on the current state and context of the vCon to account for
changes in consent, updates in the accuracy of the content, or
amendments of the information it might contain. SCITT, the Supply
Chain, Integrity, Transparency, and Trust protocol, enables clients
to register statements about events, physical or virtual, such as
when things are created or used. These statements are immutable and
are useful to support auditing, governance, and coordination between
various distributed systems.
When using vCons to define a conversation, and SCITT to record the
events that occur to them, more scalable and transparent systems of
governance and provenance can be constructed to support privacy
efforts. It is expected that there are many situations where this
governance across security boundaries is common and desired by all
parties. One real-world example of this is management of consent as
it applies to the use of conversations for different purposes, such
as machine learning. Using conversations as inputs to machine
learning has great benefit to both customers and businesses, yet only
responsibly within the defense of personal data rights and compliance
with personal data and communications privacy laws, united together
by consent. Although consent to a call recording or personal data
collection and processing is not always required under the applicable
laws, seeking consent is often the best practice, given the Privacy
by Design principles, multijurisdictional business operations, and
the ever-changing privacy laws. Please see the privacy-primer-vcon
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-james-privacy-primer-vcon/)
for more information on consent and other data subject protection
concepts.
In all of these cases, the ability to define and express the
processing of conversations depends on the ability to authoritatively
define the lifecycle of a vCon:
* who originated the vCon in the first place to establish provenance
* how it was analyzed and amended, to accurately respond to right-
to-know requests
* the authenticity both of the original document for downstream
workflow
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
* and authenticity of the redactions that come from the original, in
service of data minimization efforts
* the various expressions of digital rights
* the sharing or deletion in response to the same digital rights
For this document and for purposes of illustration, consent will be
used as an example use case. Proper consent management is
fundamental to the responsible protection of data and the ability to
leverage that data. Consent granted by the data subject of a vCon
also needs to be stored and passed, exactly like the other
information contained in a vCon. Unlike the rest of the information
contained, the gathered consent is expressly not immutable. Consent,
when gathered for a purpose, can also be revoked by the data subject
at any time and surely after a vCon has been shared for analysis.
Multiple regulations, including the US-born California Consumer
Protection Act (CCPA) CCPA (https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa) and the
EU-born General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) GDPR
(https://gdpr.eu/), outline requirements for entities to use and
dispose of PII information responsibly upon request. Consent,
although illustrative, is not the only example of mutability in the
lifecycle of a vCon. Verification of parties, improvements in the
analysis, and additions of contextual attachments result in updates
to a vCon after data is shared, begging for a mechanism to track and
govern such changes.
To honor the working group's charter to pass conversational data
safely between consenting parties, this draft provides an overview of
the requirements, a workflow and an example consent structure for
using SCITT to manage the vCon lifecycle at scale, providing end-to-
end, interoperable services and tooling. The workflow enables
entities in the workflow to collaborate on a vCon while assuring all
entities in the workflow adhere to relevant PII regulations using a
SCITT Ledger. Actual implementations of these workflows are left to
implementers and applications; this draft provides an authoritative
list of the entries that should appear on the SCITT transparency
ledger to enable them.
1.1. Acts of Trust and Transparency
Throughout this workflow, no single entity can prove that other
entities performed the required actions. However, by auditing the
SCITT Ledgers of all involved parties, entities can prove they acted
on the acknowledged consent and intent of the Data Subject, holding
other entities accountable for performing required operations. In
short, this audit can help to prove that "the good guys did the right
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
thing", to measure the compliance of those outside this architecture
who may have chosen different methods of compliance assurance.
1.2. Standards-Based Interoperability
A wide range of industries and business scenarios benefit from
virtual conversations, making them valuable across countless
organizations.The breadth of industries and scenarios that benefit
from virtual conversations spans numerous companies. The power of
this technology lies in enabling cross-conversation collaboration.
By implementing a standards-based approach, both collaborative and
competitive companies can easily integrate with solutions for
transcription, consent management, and CRM integration.
Packaging conversations and associated metadata in the vCon format
provides a standardized means to communicate what has been sent. Due
to the personally identifiable information and digital fingerprinting
in vCons, it's critical to understand and adhere to regulatory
requirements for PII management. Defining and implementing a
standard provides stability in information management throughout the
lifecycle.
Recording which vCon elements were sent to various parties holds each
accountable for what was sent, what was received, and when these
exchanges occurred.
1.3. What Differentiates SCITT from a Database
The information written to SCITT could be compared to information in
a standard database. What makes SCITT different:
* *Immutable and Append-Only nature*: Once written, data cannot be
modified or deleted
* *Cryptographic security*: Through pre-signed statements, making
SCITT a notary that cannot alter contents
* *Independent verifiability*: Parties can verify data without
trusting the service provider
* *Separation*: Between the immutable, append-only ledger and the
evidentiary metadata store (which can be deleted/redacted for PII
governance)
* *Standardized communication*: And enforcement of regulations and
compliance
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
2. Conventions and Definitions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 RFC2119 (https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174) when, and only
when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
The following terms, derived from CCPA (https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/
ccpa), GDPR (https://gdpr.eu/) and privacy-primer-vcon
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-james-privacy-primer-vcon/),
are used throughout the document:
*Conserver*: A vCon workflow engine that ingests vCons, routing them
for processing and enhancements. A conserver doesn't store a vCon,
rather it processes the vCon for transcription, sentiment, integrity
protection on egress, verification on ingress, retrieving it from,
and saving it to a vCon Registry.
*Data Subject*: The individual(s) whose personal information is
processed (also referred to as the "consumer" in many personal data
privacy laws).
*Data Originator*: The Entity that records and initiates the vCon,
identifying the parties, including the media of the conversation.
For a phone call, this may include the phone numbers and the audio
recording. For internet-based calls, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom,
Google meet, this may include emails and audio/video recording. The
Data Originator is a facilitator with access to the content of the
call. This document addresses the instance where the Data Originator
is a data processor under the applicable data privacy laws,
collecting and processing data on behalf of a Data Controller.
However, Data Originators may also act as Data Controllers when
collecting and processing data for their own purposes. This document
does not address such an instance, and implementers will need to
adjust the technical process accordingly. In general, Data
Originators may be required to collect consent by applicable law when
acting as Data Controllers and by the relevant data processing
agreements with Data Controllers when acting as Data Processors. .
One or all of the Data Subjects must initiate consent, giving the
Data Originator the right to record the conversation, which may be
the Data Controller's responsibility to identify.
*Data Controller*: An Entity or individual with decision-making
authority over data processing who determines the purposes and
methods of data processing, bears primary responsibility under
privacy laws and is the main target of most privacy and data
protection regulations. Under most data privacy laws, Data
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
Controllers are required to enter into data processing agreements
with their Data Processors, detailing the rules for data collection
and processing in accordance with applicable laws.
*Data Processor*: An individual or an Entity, which processes
personal data on behalf of the Data Controller. It is often a third-
party service provider who processes data on behalf of the data
controller. Under HIPAA data processors are referred to as "business
associates." Data processors may be hired for specialized tasks or
to improve efficiency; can subcontract to other processors, creating
a chain of responsibility; must operate within the scope defined by
the data controller; and are expected to maintain trust and adhere to
the controller's guidelines. A Conserver often calls out to Data
Processors for Transcription, Sentiment Analysis, Fraud Detection,
email/text messaging.
_Processing_: Any operation or set of operations which is performed
on personal data or on sets of personal data. Among other things,
this includes collection, storage, use, disclosure, and deletion.
_Personal Data_: any information relating to an identified or
identifiable Data Subject, including a name, an identification
number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors
specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic,
cultural or social identity of the Data Subject.
*Entity*: A generic reference to companies, groups or individuals
that may share, alter, or use a vCon. An Entity may be a Data
Originator, Data Controller, Data Processor or some other role that
has not yet been defined that participates in the possession and/or
processing of a vCon.
*Party*: A party, or participant of a vCon, as identified in the vCon
draft.
*SCITT Transparency Service*: An append-only ledger for integrity
protecting vCons, ensuring the state of a vCon is known at a point in
time for conformance to governance and regulatory requirements.
*vCon Registry*: A storage service, capable of storing vCons,
including rich metadata and larger attachments including audio and
video recordings.
3. vCon Lifecycle
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 8]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
3.1. Example Use Case: Consent Management
The example use case, consent management, has the following
requirements, all considered necessary to fulfill the proper sharing
of personal information responsibly:
* As an individual, I wish to express my data subject rights to
express my consent for various purposes, and to withdraw the same.
* As a member of an organization, I want to operationally assure
that the processing of personal data is within the consent I
gained from the data subject, and to safely record those
activities to provide to both data subjects and governance bodies.
* As a regulator, I wish to have a measurement system to support
compliance, bias and regulatory enforcement of policy.
* As a technologist, I wish to maintain the integrity of
conversational pipelines, maintaining the trust both stakeholders
and data subjects have in the trust and transparency of the
process.
3.2. vCon Lifecycle Scope
3.2.1. Creation, Distribution and Deletion
The vCon lifecycle comprises a series of phases from creation through
distribution to deletion. Tracking these phases enables fundamental
privacy rights, such as the right to know how your data was
processed, and secures AI supply chains by establishing provenance
and guaranteeing integrity.
The phases of a vCon's life include:
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 9]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| 1. vConCreated |---->| 2. Recording |---->| 3. vConSent |
| | | Added | | |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
|
v
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| 6. vConSentTo |<----| 5. vConEnhanced|<----| 4. vConReceived|
| Processors | | | | |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
|
v
+----------------+ +----------------+
| 7. Data |---->| 8. vConDeletion|
| Processing | | |
+----------------+ +----------------+
1. *vConCreated*: The call completes, and a vCon is created with
call metadata stored in the vCon Registry.
2. *RecordingAdded*: The actual recording is saved and added to the
attachments section of the vCon.
3. *vConSent*: The Data Originator sends the vCon to the Data
Controller with integrity protection using SCITT.
4. *vConReceived*: The Data Controller receives the vCon and records
this in the SCITT Transparency Service.
5. *vConEnhanced*: The Data Controller adds transcription and
license information and identifies themselves.
6. *vConSentToProcessors*: The Data Controller sends the vCon to
relevant Data Processors.
7. *Data Processing*: Value-added services are performed on the vCon
data.
8. *vConDeletion*: The vCon is deleted when no longer needed, when
consent is revoked, or when it expires.
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 10]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
3.2.2. Digital Rights Management
Interwoven with the vCon lifecycle is consent management. A modern
consent model is envisioned: consent is gathered by the Data
Controller (or the Data Originator acting as a data processor on
behalf of the Data Controller) for particular purposes (such as
training or sharing) and can be withdrawn by the Data Subject on
demand. This withdrawal may result in revoking the vCon or modifying
it to remove non-consenting portions.
+------------------+ +------------------+ +------------------+
| 1. ConsentTo |---->| 2. ConsentFor |---->| 3. Consent |
| Record | | Purpose | | Recorded |
+------------------+ +------------------+ +------------------+
|
v
+------------------+ +------------------+ +------------------+
| 6. RevokeRequest |<----| 5. ConsentReview |<----| 4. ConsentReceipt|
| Processing | | Revocation | | Sent |
+------------------+ +------------------+ +------------------+
Lifecycle events in Digital Rights Management include:
1. *ConsentToRecord*: Consent is requested from the Data Subject to
record the conversation.
2. *ConsentForPurpose*: Confirmation of consent for specific
purposes (e.g., "sales followup") is obtained.
3. *ConsentRecorded*: The Data Controller records where consent was
confirmed in the transcript or recording.
4. *ConsentReceipt Sent*: Notification is sent to Data Subject(s)
with a link to review consent details.
5. *ConsentReview/Revocation*: Data Subject can review or choose to
revoke consent at any time.
6. *RevokeRequestProcessing*: If consent is revoked, the request is
processed and communicated to all parties.
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 11]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
3.2.3. Amendment of Existing vCons
Under normal circumstances, vCons may be amended. For example, at
creation time, parties to a vCon may be verified through methods such
as OAuth. However, if account credentials are later found to be
compromised, the verification status may need revision. Party
verification issues often trigger "Rights to Correct" requests and
are fundamental to responsible data rights management. Other
enhancements and modifications may occur for security reasons, future
processing needs, or in response to regulatory changes.
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| 1. DialogAdded |---->| 2. vConProcessed|---->| 3. Data |
| | | | | Redaction |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
Events that may be recorded on the distributed ledger include:
1. *DialogAdded*: A dialog is saved and added to the vCon.
2. *vConProcessed*: The Data Controller processes the vCon.
3. *Data Redaction*: Data Processors delete the data or redact the
Data Subject.
4. Detailed Use Case
4.1. vCon Create, Consent and Share
+-------------------+ +-------------------+
| Data Originator | | Data Controller |
+---------+---------+ +---------+---------+
| |
| 1. Call Initiation |
|--------> |
| |
| 2. Consent to Record |
|--------> |
| |
| 3. Consent to Share |
|--------> |
| |
| 4. vCon Created |
| |
| 5. Recording Added |
| |
| 6. vCon Sent |
|----------------------------------------->|
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 12]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
| |
| | 7. vCon Received
| |
| | 8. vCon Enhanced
| |
| | 9. vCon Sent
| |-------->
| |
| |
+---------v---------+ +---------v---------+
| Data Originator | | Data Controller |
+-------------------+ +-------------------+
|
v
+-------------------+
| Data Processor |
+---------+---------+
|
| 10. vCon Received
|
| 11. Consent Recorded
|
| 12. vCon Enhanced
|
| 13. Consent Receipt
| Sent
|
| 14. Consent Review
|
| 15. Value-Add
| Services
|
+---------v---------+
| Data Processor |
+-------------------+
4.1.1. Data Originator
1. *Initiating Call*: An initiating caller contacts a Data Subject
to provide a service.
2. *Consent to Record*: The initiating caller requests consent to
record the call for training purposes.
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 13]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
3. *Consent to Share*: The call completes, confirming consent for
the recording to be used for "sales followup", noting that the
Data Subject can review and revoke consent later. Depending on
the types of personal data communicated on the call and the
purpose of its processing, the consent request language may need
to include additional information.
4. *vCon Created*: The call completes, the vCon is created, and call
metadata is recordedin the vCon Registry.
5. *Recording Added*: The recording is saved to the vCon Registry,
adding it to the vCon's attachments section.
6. *vCon Sent*: The Data Originator completes their responsibilities
and sends the vCon to the Data Controller.
4.1.2. Data Controller
1. *vCon Received*: The vCon is received from the Data Originator,
and a vcon_received operation is recorded in the SCITT
Transparency Service.
2. *vCon Enhanced with License and Data Controller*: The Data
Controller adds transcription, specifies the intended license,
and identifies themselves as the Data Controller on the vCon.
3. *vCon Sent*: The Data Controller sends the vCon to the Data
Processor(s).
4.1.3. Data Processor(s)
1. *vCon Received*: The Data Processor validates the vCon's SCITT
receipt from the Data Controller.
2. *Consent Recorded*: The Data Processor records consent
confirmation in the SCITT Transparency Service.
3. *vCon Enhanced*: Sentiment analysis and other enhancements are
processed through the Data Processor's Conserver workflows.
4. *Consent Receipt Sent*: The Data Processor sends notification to
the Data Subject(s) with a link to review consent details.
5. *Consent Review*: The Data Subject(s) can review vCon information
at any time and revoke consent if desired.
6. *Data Processor Value-Add*: The Data Processor performs value-
added services for the Data Subject(s).
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 14]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
4.2. Revocation and the Right to Be Forgotten
At any point, a Data Subject can request revocation or the right to
be forgotten, requiring all vCon possessors to act accordingly. vCons
must be tracked for where they were sent and who to contact when a
Data Subject makes such requests. The SCITT Transparency Service
maintains metadata about ingested vCons, ensuring integrity and
inclusion protection.
+-------------------+ +-------------------+
| Data Subject | | Data Controller |
+---------+---------+ +---------+---------+
| |
| 1. Revoke Consent |
|--------> |
| |
| 2. Revoke Request Sent |
|----------------------------------------->|
| |
| | 3. Act on Revocation
| |
| | 4. Send Request to
| | All Processors
| |-------->
| |
+---------v---------+ +---------v---------+
| Data Subject | | Data Controller |
+-------------------+ +-------------------+
|
v
+-------------------+
| Data Processor |
+---------+---------+
|
| 5. Deletion of Data
|
+---------v---------+
| Data Processor |
+-------------------+
4.2.1. Data Subject
1. *Revoke Consent*: The Data Subject revokes consent by some
manner: i.e. clicks a link included in all communications between
the Data Processor and the Data Subject(s), through an external
system or in conversation with the data controller.
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 15]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
2. *Revoke Request Sent*: If the vcon_consent_revoked operation was
handled by the Data Processor, they MUST contact the Data
Controller to communicate the Data Subject's intent.
4.2.2. Data Controller Revocation
1. *Act on Consent Revocation Request*: The Data Controller receives
the vCon Consent Revocation Request and records it on their SCITT
Transparency Service.
2. *Send Revocation Request to Data Controllers*: If the vCon was
sent to other Data Processors, they must communicate the
revocation request to any Data Processor that hasn't yet
acknowledged it.
4.2.3. Data Processor Revocation
1. *Deletion of Data*: Any Data Processor that hasn't yet acted on
the request must acknowledge it.
5. vCon Lifecycle Events
The following events outline important "moments that matter" in a
vCon's lifecycle. These events are not intended to be stored within
the vCon itself, but rather as operations stored on SCITT to provide
context for the vCon's intent at specific points in time:
* *vcon_created*: The initial vCon document as first recorded. The
vCon may start with a basic structure defining minimal metadata,
as recordings or attachments may be added asynchronously upon
encoding completion.
* *vcon_enhanced*: The vCon has been amended or appended. While
vCons are considered immutable, information may be amended or
appended—previous values exist in the vCon Registry but may be
superseded. Amendments may include transcription corrections or
consent changes.
* *vcon_sent*: The vCon was sent to an external party. This
operation seals the vCon's integrity, recording what was sent, to
whom, and when in the SCITT Transparency Service. A SCITT receipt
from the receiving service confirms possession.
* *vcon_received*: The vCon was received from an external entity.
This documents possession at a specific time, sealing content
integrity and returning a SCITT receipt to the sender.
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 16]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
* *vcon_consent_accepted*: One or more parties have consented to the
vCon being recorded and shared for its intended purpose. Consent
may not be established during initial vCon creation, as the Data
Controller, not the Data Originator (infrastructure provider), is
responsible for managing Data Subject consent.
* *vcon_consent_revoked*: One or more parties have revoked consent
for one or more purposes. Depending on region, license, and
regulatory requirements, one revocation may or may not require all
Data Processors to act.
* *vcon_party_redacted*: A party to the vCon has been redacted.
This differs from consent revocation, as the vCon may remain
viable if a party's information can be redacted while maintaining
integrity and usefulness.
* *vcon_deleted*: The vCon has been deleted due to an implicit act
such as revocation or no longer being needed. When a Data
Controller deletes a vCon, they must inform all recipients to
either delete it or assume Data Controller responsibilities.
* *vcon_expired*: The vCon has expired due to license terms or
compliance requirements. This triggers deletion and notification
to all shared entities.
* *vcon_rcvr_purged*: When a vCon is sent from a Data Controller,
the receiving Entity may maintain it indefinitely, for a set
period, or delete it upon operation completion. If the Entity no
longer needs to maintain the vCon, they can delete it and notify
the sender.
6. Security Considerations
The security of the vCon lifecycle depends heavily on the integrity
and availability of the SCITT Transparency Service. Entities MUST
ensure that their SCITT implementations are properly secured and that
access controls are in place to prevent unauthorized modifications.
The handling of personally identifiable information (PII) throughout
the vCon lifecycle requires careful consideration of privacy
regulations and data protection requirements. Entities MUST
implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to
protect PII and ensure compliance with applicable regulations.
McCarthy-Howe, et al. Expires 22 January 2026 [Page 17]
Internet-Draft vCon Lifecycle July 2025
7. Privacy Considerations
This document describes a framework for managing vCons that contain
personally identifiable information. Implementers MUST ensure
compliance with applicable privacy regulations, including but not
limited to GDPR GDPR (https://gdpr.eu/) and CCPA CCPA
(https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa).
The framework provides mechanisms for consent management and data
subject rights, but implementers are responsible for ensuring that
their implementations properly respect and enforce these rights.
8. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
9. References
9.1. Normative References
9.2. Informative References
10. Informative References
[CBOR] Bormann, C. and P. Hoffman, "Concise Binary Object
Representation (CBOR)", STD 94, RFC 8949,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8949, December 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8949>.
[CDDL] Birkholz, H., Vigano, C., and C. Bormann, "Concise Data
Definition Language (CDDL): A Notational Convention to
Express Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) and
JSON Data Structures", RFC 8610, DOI 10.17487/RFC8610,
June 2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8610>.
[CDR] ITU, "Recommendation Q.825: Specification of TMN
applications at the Q3 interface: Call detail recording",
n.d., <https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Q.825>.
[GEOPRIV] Peterson, J., "A Presence-based GEOPRIV Location Object
Format", RFC 4119, DOI 10.17487/RFC4119, December 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4119>.
[GZIP] Deutsch, P., "GZIP file format specification version 4.3",