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In the Policy API section, this PR updates the Authorization description to allow for authentication when use-cases justify it.

Is this a breaking change

  • No, not breaking

Impacted Spec

Which spec(s) will this pull request impact?

  • policy

Additional context

Relates to #915

Changing the Authorization paragraph

Signed-off-by: Pierre Bouffort <[email protected]>
@pierre-bouffort pierre-bouffort requested a review from a team as a code owner July 30, 2025 14:46
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CLAassistant commented Jul 30, 2025

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All committers have signed the CLA.

@pierre-bouffort pierre-bouffort added the Policy Specific to the Policy API label Jul 30, 2025
@pierre-bouffort pierre-bouffort added this to the 2.1.0 milestone Jul 30, 2025
pierre-bouffort and others added 3 commits July 30, 2025 10:52
Added the reference to general Authorization guidelines

Signed-off-by: Pierre Bouffort <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Michael Schnuerle <[email protected]>
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schnuerle commented Sep 16, 2025

Adding @geneorama's detailed and valid points from the Issue here:

Capturing some arguments against allowing authorization:

  • Providing a provision for authorization risks casting it as "should" have authorization
  • Adding authorization adds another layer of maintenance
  • Adding authorization adds a barrier for would be civic developers in the public, who (assuming there is a process for obtaining keys) are faced with navigating a system that is opaque and bureaucratic, and may not be supported across administrations

If it's used during development a temporary measure, it is exceptionally risky that the service will never be open:

  • A service can't be properly tested in development without authentication because it would require significant changes to the changing the code base
  • Funding will almost certainly be reluctant to cover development work to remove authentication once a project is complete
  • Fundamentally if a service is to be open, then it needs to be designed and tested in the open form.

There ways to address many, if not all, of the justifications for authentication

  • Use IP whitelisting for pilots
  • Require vendor identification for API calls
  • Provide and require use private codes for requests to avoid spoofing, if that is a concern
  • Employ security and load balancing systems for the open API just as you would any other open API

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Clarify that Policy API can require Authorization to access the published material
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