...
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
We've made it!
As @katrynadow tweeted, "And that's a wrap on 2016" (adding a lovely pic of the Sydney Harbour bridge and Opera House silhouetted against a backdrop of fireworks) there are no better words to offer.
As I write this, our members, friends and partners in Australia and New Zealand have already seen in the New Year, but are likely still celebrating .
It's been a transformational year for Kantara, bringing its own challenges that together, we have all risen to and overcome. When I go back in time 12 months to when the Board made the unprecented decision to self incorporate as a separate organization, replace its service management company, and initiate the transition of Exec Director - all in one single December 2015 meeting - the enormity of it at the time looked ... well... daunting!
Then when one adds the historic ructions in the political landscape and the appalling events brought on by war, terror and natural disaster, there's a valid case to be thankful for the end of 2016, so we can focus on doing our part in making 2017 100% positively memorabe.
And there is a lot we can do.
In the world of identity we have been witness to the rise of the Blockchain phenomenon that might or might not herald a new dimension to counterbalance the rise of identity theft and hacking on a scale hitherto unseen, with seemingly no target immune.
And in the world of privacy and personal data, our electronic connectedness sees a global rippling effect on us all in the industry as the EU prepares for the enforcement of GDPR and the introduction of eID.
Our industry is stacked full of observers, commentators, bloggers, researchers, report writers, tweeters and re-tweeters. Nothing wrong in that. They all contribute in their own way.
But there are precious few organizations in the industry that actually develop things, build things and deploy things - developed, built and deployed by the community in the interests of humanity and ethics that tangibly help to put tools into the hands of users to make their online activities safer, more private and under their control.
Kantara is one of those precious few in the world. I hope that is why you are here reading this, identifying yourself with the pivotal role that this organization plays and all that it has to offer.
Often without public accolade or recognition, Kantara's member volunteers - drawn from the Directors, the Assurance Review Board, the Leadership Council, the approved CSPs, the accredited assessors, the organizational and individual members, liaison organizations, plus a long tail of non member participants - put to work their great minds to collaboratively conceive and develop real tools that 'walk' all that 'talk'.
We have UMA - the only profile in the world for distributed authorization and delegation built for the modern, lightweight mobile world - gaining attention and rapid adoption, not only from the tech sector, but increasingly from the legal and health professions, as we do with the Blockchain Smart Contracts DG. We have the Consent Receipt specification about to go to public review - another world first. We are recognised experts in conformity assessment with our experience in operating the Identity Assurance program for the US Federal government's FICAM initiative, with a clutch of partners looking at us to potentially extend it to assess and assure their trust frameworks. And we have the other Working Groups and Discussion Groups building towards their goals, such as but not limited to the new paradiym that IRM portends and the ID Pro Discussion Group's efforts to build a home for digital identity professionals.
Governments and policy-makers are attracted to Kantara by what they see at the grass-roots level and want it in the room in other fora - like ITAC in its role to support the OECD and in Vienna earlier this year to observe UNCITRAL - we welcome their interest.
What we strive to do and the egalitarian consensus driven culture in which we do it, is not for everyone however. While some folks have not renewed their membership in 2016, many more have chosen to join us. December's New Members are OneWorldIdentity, Collective Underwriters,Inc and John Macaulay (of whom you will see much more in the Health Identity Assurance Working Group). A very warm welcome folks. We welcome your interest and your investment in time and money. We need all of it and more besides, if we are to do more of what we do. With more money and more volunteer effort, the more we can do - it's that simple .
Your leadership has been working harder than ever this last quarter of the year to align the organization's positioning in 2017 with the work actually happening.
Finally, I want to take this opportunity to publically thank my hard working dedicated staff - Ruth for all things Identity Assurance and KIPI - and Oliver for all things technical, web and visual, the super team at Virtual Managment Inc and those individuals across the Board of Directors and its sub committees, the Leadership Council and Working/Discussion groups who have worked harder than anyone can imagine to drive the organization forward. You know who you are and I salute each and every one of you!
2017 will be a great year for Kantara. Of that I am certain. Enjoy the last hours of 2016 and prepare yourself for the great ride that 2017 is sure to be .January is 'planning month' in both our personal and business lives as we wrestle with how to enact those New Year's resolutions and reset business plans to reflect the out-turn of the past year.
That is certainly the case at Kantara.
While some minor refinements are already operational like the form-before-download of our frequently accessed Recommendations and Reports, the much more profound changes are yet to come.
In 2017, Kantara will pivot around a refinement of the existing Mission Statement and sharpen its focus on conformity assessment of its frameworks and specifications, with closer orchestration and re-alignment of WG and DG outputs towards its programs. While Kantara's existing strap-line 'Join, Innovate, Trust' will remain close to our hearts, you'll see and hear more of 'Invent, Innovate, Implement' which talks directly to our outputs.
Those outputs are the world leading and thought leading specifications, frameworks, conformity assessment programs, contributions to ISO SC27, OECD via ITAC, Reports, Recommendations and more. Those outputs are your outputs proposed by members, non member participants, directed-funds organizations and Liaison organizations as things you wanted to see Kantara do in order to improve the digital economy in the areas of identity and personal data, consistent with our Mission that seeks to build a better, safer, more private and equitable online experience for people.
The band of member volunteers that consistently step up to deliver Kantara artifacts such as the Consent Receipt v1.0 and very soon, UMA v2.0, are often the same folks who assist the Board and staff with strategic and operational re-alignments.
We need more of you! Please take that next step and email me at the address above, and let's discuss how you and/or your organization can help Kantara reach its goals either through membership, directed funds or volunteer resources to contribute use cases, expert knowledge, project management, Secretariat resources etc - not for Kantara's own sake - but for your organization's customers, consumers and users of its online services.
We are receiving a lot of interest in Consent Receipt and UMA as tools in the GDPR compliance arsenal right now. And interest in our conformity assessment program for Identity Assurance that is currently deployed just in the public sector but has so much potential in the private sector. There are not many open platforms to develop industry specifications and frameworks and none as accessible as Kantara's. That capability is at the center of Kantara's value to the industries and communities it serves.
Take a deep breath - the 2017 conference season about to descend on us. Let's embrace all it has to offer and in turn promote the principles that we believe in .
Cheers!
Colin
Around the Houses:
Marketing:
- We have some racy new badges, device stickers and Kantara flyers ready to go for 2017. To Members in good standing that are holding an event where Kantara and its assets are being presented, please to take some to distribute.
Program, Work Group and Discussion Group Updates:
- The WGs and DGs of Leadership Council now operate a blog, so you can read what's going on in groups you are not regularly attending. See it here
- ID Pro DG work is progressing well with the Code of Conduct project stream complete. The Membership/Services and Governance project streams still have a ways to go. Most of all, ID Pro needs founder seed funding to begin to fulfill its own Mission and Vision while being incubated at Kantara. If your organization wants to be acclaimed as a founding member of a new Association of Digital Identity Professionals, please email me, colin@kantarainitiative.org .
- If you have opted to receive news from Kantara or following us on twitter @KantaraNews you'll know that the Consent Receipt is out for 45 day Public Review here . We expect the final V1.0 to be published sometime in March.
- As always if you have a query or question, staff are only too willing to assist. Email them on staff@kantarainitiative.org
Events: See them here! https://kantarainitiative.org/calendars/
- One of the main themes coming from the Membership Survey in December was to increase our networking and social activities. We listened and acted upon that sentiment. Accordingly you have been notified of 'Breakfast with Kantara' at RSA in San Francisco, with a members only 'friends and family' evening event co-hosted in conjunction with our close liaison and friend IDESG. A social event is planned for the TIIME conference in Vienna the following week. Stay tuned for more social events in May folks!
Cheers!
Colin