Changes between Version 1 and Version 2 of RightToErasure


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Timestamp:
Apr 3, 2018, 2:50:25 PM (6 years ago)
Author:
Kevin Reed
Comment:

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  • RightToErasure

    v1 v2  
    1 == Right to Erasure
    2 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation European GDPR law] provides for a "Right to Erasure".  An interpretation of this law is that it gives users the right to have all of their data stored in an electronic system deleted from that system if they request it.  This proposal exists as an attempt to satisfy that requirement of the GDPR law. 
     1= Right to Erasure =
     2The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation European GDPR law] provides for a "Right to Erasure".  An interpretation of this law is that it gives users the right to have all of their data stored in an electronic system deleted from that system if they request it.  This proposal exists as an attempt to satisfy that requirement of the GDPR law.
    33
    4 == User Experience
    5 
    6 The BOINC website will provide a new page that allows a user to start the process of deleting their account.  The link to this page will be found on home.php under Your account -> Account information -> Change -> delete account.
     4== User Experience ==
     5The BOINC website will provide a new page that allows a user to start the process of deleting their account.  The link to this page will be found on home.php under Your account -> Account information -> Change -> delete account.  The page will be <base_url>/request_delete_account.php.
    76
    87Once the user visits this new page, they will be presented with text that states:
    … …  
    1716At this point all information about your account will be immediately deleted.”
    1817}}}
     18Once the user provides their password, an email is sent to the user with a link that is similar to:
    1919
     20{{{
     21<base_url>/confirm_delete_account.php?userid=<userid>&token=<token>
     22}}}
     23When they click on the link they will be taken to a page that asks them if they are sure that they want to delete their account.  They must re-enter their password and click the button that says "delete account" in order to have there account deleted.  The account will be immediately deleted at this point and the user will be redirected to the project's home page.
     24
     25If the user returns to the request_delete_account.php while they have an active token, the page will ask them to check their email for the email that was sent and then provide them with an option to generate a new email if they cannot find the first one.  This will again require the user to enter their password to generate the email.
     26
     27== Technical Implementation ==
     28=== New Tables ===
     29token
     30
     31 * token varchar(254) not null pk
     32 * userid int not null
     33 * type char not null
     34 * create_time int not null default unix_timestamp()
     35 * expire_time int not null
     36
     37user_deleted
     38
     39 * userid int not null pk
     40 * public_cross_project_id varchar(254) not null
     41 * delete_time not null default unix_timestamp()
     42
     43host_deleted
     44
     45 * hostid int not null pk
     46 * public_cross_project_id varchar(254) not null
     47 * delete_time not null default unix_timestamp()
     48
     49=== Token Generation ===
     50Tokens will be generated from the function inc/util.inc random_string().  However, that function currently relies on functions that are not cryptographically secure.  As a result, this function will be replaced with the following implementation:
     51
     52{{{
     53function random_string() {
     54    return bin2hex(random_bytes(16));
     55}
     56}}}
     57A couple of notes about this choice:
     58
     59 * random_bytes is documented here: http://php.net/manual/en/function.random-bytes.php but is a PHP 7 function.
     60 * for compatibility with older versions of php (5.2 to 5.6) we will include the library at https://github.com/paragonie/random_compat
     61
     62=== Token Usage ===
     63The token generated by random_string() and included in the email will be stored on the token table and will be set to expire after 24 hours.  The token type for this will be "D" for delete.
     64
     65If the user clicks on the link in the email and the token is invalid or expired, they will be presented with a page that states that the link was invalid and that they need to return to the request_delete_account.php and request a new link.
     66
     67=== Data Exports ===
     68BOINC provides a mechanism for the mass export of data (db_dump).  GDPR requires that this mechanism also provide notification to consumers of that data that accounts have been deleted. 
     69
     70The current format of the data for users looks like (user.xml):
     71
     72
     73{{{
     74<user>
     75 <id>13306</id>
     76 <name>etest051717a</name>
     77 <country></country>
     78 <create_time>1495032737</create_time>
     79 <total_credit>1218.038168</total_credit>
     80 <expavg_credit>0.088678</expavg_credit>
     81 <expavg_time>1504635602.002442</expavg_time>
     82 <cpid>0213f2f995c5a3fd86aec4b79b08a05d</cpid>
     83 <teamid>118</teamid>
     84</user>
     85<user>
     86 <id>13384</id>
     87 <name>etest062917a</name>
     88 <country></country>
     89 <create_time>1498749567</create_time>
     90 <total_credit>6740.232830</total_credit>
     91 <expavg_credit>0.096624</expavg_credit>
     92 <expavg_time>1506990001.965522</expavg_time>
     93 <cpid>a09031094836310f043f0ff8bcfca355</cpid>
     94</user>
     95}}}
     96
     97We are proposing this is changed to
     98
     99{{{
     100<user>
     101 <id>13306</id>
     102 <name>etest051717a</name>
     103 <country></country>
     104 <create_time>1495032737</create_time>
     105 <total_credit>1218.038168</total_credit>
     106 <expavg_credit>0.088678</expavg_credit>
     107 <expavg_time>1504635602.002442</expavg_time>
     108 <cpid>0213f2f995c5a3fd86aec4b79b08a05d</cpid>
     109 <teamid>118</teamid>
     110</user>
     111<user>
     112 <id>13384</id>
     113 <cpid>a09031094836310f043f0ff8bcfca355</cpid>
     114 <deleted/>
     115</user>
     116}}}
     117
     118The deleted tag being used to signify those records that must be deleted from the downstream system.  The db_dump utility would first export records from the user table and then export records from the user_deleted table to generate these records.
     119
     120The host.xml will be changed similarly so that a record for a host that has been deleted would look like:
     121
     122{{{
     123<host>
     124    <id>884</id>
     125    <host_cpid>36e9d265f8fe553bedbbef1cd21a6182</host_cpid>
     126    <deleted/>
     127</host>
     128}}}
     129
     130This portion of db_dump would pull from host and then from host_deleted to collect the data.
     131
     132=== delete_account.php ===
     133The delete of the account is final and is not recoverable in anyway.  On the confirm_delete_account.php page, then token should be included as a hidden field.  The delete_account.php page that receives the request should validate both the users password and the users token before allowing the delete to proceed.  Only if both are valid should this occur.
     134
     135The delete will consist of the following actions:
     136 * An entry will be inserted into the user_deleted table
     137 * An entry will be inserted into the host_deleted table for each host record the user has
     138 * All entries  for the user will be deleted from the following tables:
     139   * badge_user
     140   * banishment_vote
     141   * credit_user
     142   * credited_job
     143   * donation_paypal
     144   * forum_logging
     145   * forum_preferences
     146   * friend (where either user_src or user_dest equals the deleted userid)
     147   * host_app_version (for each host the user owns)
     148   * msg_from_host (for each host the user owns)
     149   * msg_to_host (for each host the user owns)
     150   * host
     151   * notify
     152   * post_ratings (for each post the user created)
     153   * post_ratings (for each post the user rated)
     154   * post (for each post made by the user, find any posts that has that as a parent and set parent_post_id to null)
     155   * post (remove posts made by the user)
     156   * private_messages
     157   * sent_email
     158   * subscriptions
     159   * team_admin
     160   * team_delta
     161   * user
     162 * Problematic  Tables
     163   * team (when user_id is for the user, how to remove since field is not null)
     164 * Note that rows in the following are not deleted because these will be deleted        in due course and are necessary for technical operation of the  system:
     165   * result
     166 * Questions.
     167   * thread – do we need to remove thread?
     168   * user_submit
     169   * user_submit_app
     170
     171=== Final Removal
     172A script that runs once a day will be developed that removes entries from the user_deleted and host_deleted tables when create_time indicates that they are over 60 days old.  This provide sufficient time for consumers of the data export to receive notification of the deletion and to remove the data from their system.