{{Unreferenced|date=January 2022}} A '''link contract''' is an approach to data control in a distributed data sharing network. Link contracts are a key feature of the XDI specifications under development at OASIS.

In XDI, a link contract is a machine-readable XDI document that governs the sharing of other XDI data. Unlike a conventional Web link, which is essentially a one-dimensional "string" that "pulls" a linked document into a browser, a link contract is a graph of metadata (typically in JSON) that can actively control the flow of data from a publisher to a subscriber by either "push" or "pull". The flow is controlled by the terms of the contract, which can be as flexible and extensible as real-world contracts, i.e., link contracts can govern:

* Identification: Who are the parties to the contract? * Authority: Who controls the data being shared via the contract? * Authentication: How will each party prove its identity to the other? * Authorization: Who has what access rights and privileges to the data? * Scope: What data does it cover? * Permission and Privacy: What uses can be made of the data and by whom? * Synchronization: How and when will the subscriber receive updates to the data? * Termination: What happens when the data sharing relationship is ended? * Recourse: How will any disputes over the contract be resolved?

Like real-world contracts, link contracts can also refer to other link contracts. Using this design, the vast majority of link contracts can be very simple, referring to a very small number of more complex link contracts that have been carefully designed to reflect the requirements of common data exchange scenarios (e.g., business cards, mailing lists, e-commerce transactions, website registrations, etc.)

Link contracts have been proposed as a key element of digital trust frameworks such as those published by the non-profit {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100206144227/http://openidentityexchange.org/ Open Identity Exchange]}}.

==See also==

* XDI * Social Web * Creative Commons

==External links==

* [http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/xdi OASIS XDI Technical Committee] * [http://www.xdi.org XDI.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513190900/http://gss.xdi.org/ |date=2008-05-13 }}

Category:XML-based standards Category:Web services