Overview
This series examines how PRC-based anonymous-credential revocation certifies a known binary status at a hidden index. It moves from identifier and status-list trade-offs through secret-shared retrieval, binding commitments, threshold signatures, zero-knowledge linkage, freshness, and lifecycle costs, then tests billion-record prototype evidence. PRC offers a credible privacy–freshness–scale trade-off under an any-trust model, secure channels, reachable authorities, and controlled evaluation—not universal anonymity or production proof.
Learning outcomes
- PRC hides the queried credential index from revocation authorities while binding the index and status in a signed certificate.
- Fresh, timestamped certificates can narrow revocation delay, but they make authorities and network reachability part of each presentation.
- PRC shifts work to authorities: communication stays sublinear, while binary-record server computation remains database-dependent.
- Status lists and PRC protect different privacy boundaries: group retrieval privacy is not hidden-query privacy.
- The prototype is promising at billion-entry scale under controlled conditions, not a production SLA or guarantee against active authority corruption.
Keywords
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PlansFAQ
How does PRC protect anonymous credential revocation?
PRC secret-shares the credential’s hidden revocation index, privately certifies its database record, and lets the holder prove consistency without revealing the index. The stated privacy guarantee requires at least one honest, non-colluding authority.
How is PRC different from a W3C Bitstring Status List?
PRC privately certifies a hidden database record on demand, while a W3C Bitstring Status List publishes a shared, signed, cacheable status artifact. They address different observer and retrieval boundaries.
Does PRC scale to a billion credentials?
The prototype reported sub-400-millisecond latency and under 25 milliseconds of per-authority computation at one billion binary records under controlled conditions. That result does not establish production behavior or a service-level guarantee.
What does PRC require for its privacy guarantee?
PRC requires an any-trust authority set with at least one honest, non-colluding authority, plus confidential and integrity-protected communication. Active authority corruption, collusion, side channels, and operational logs remain important limits.