Hello everyone
This is the running update from the Executive Director. Have questions or comments? Suggest some added information or edits? Contact Colin at kantarainitiative dot org.
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2019, Kantara's 10th anniversary year, was the appropriate point in time to brainstorm ideas with the Board and its sub committee the Assurance Review Board, to set in play a series of activities in 2020 that together cement the foundational role that Kantara assumes in the industry. I look forward to sharing more with you when there's more to share.
I do feel proud of what has been achieved in our past 10 years, moreso the last 4 years that I have led Kantara as you’ll appreciate.
Starting with two massive organizational changes at the beginning of 2016 – self incorporation on top of the transition out of IEEE-ISTO - we were faced with a much more competitive landscape for industry associations with an increasingly complex political environment.
4 years later at the beginning of 2020, Kantara’s report card looks like this;
- the scope doubled to incorporate personal data privacy vs the single focus on digital identity that Kantara originally started with,
- the Kantara brand covers 4 entities (Kantara Inc, Kantara Educational Foundation, Kantara Europe & IDESG's assets absorbed into Kantara) vs the single entity at the end of 2015,
- 6 contracted staff vs the original 3 (see below regarding the 6th staff contract that was signed a couple of weeks ago),
- the privacy enhancing consent receipt specification firmly entrenched in the ISO standardization process – the first ever for Kantara and very rare for any industry group,
- the personal agency enhancing UMA specification a fulcrum for OAuth 3.0/XYZ in IETF.
- the 2020 sustaining strategy firmly anchored in conformity assessment and assurance,
- Kantara Europe firmly entrenched in the European Commission’s H2020 R&D funding program,
- …and all the while, maintaining our ‘community commons’ ethics and ethos of low/no barriers to participation.
It’s hard not to feel some sense of accomplishment when 2016-2019 is viewed in these terms, largely thanks to the staff’s utter dedication to the organization often going above and beyond, the ARB’s week-in, week-out volunteering, the relatively small band of supporters as officers in the working groups, the LC and the Board. This year-end and decade-end moment is perfect to briefly reflect on our progress.
Our working groups were busy right up till the holidays. The new FIRE working group reincarnated from IDESG committees has just released the first draft of a very interesting specification entitled January saw good progress in the other two Kantara branded entities. In the Kantara Educational Foundation, the Board was strengthened with the arrival of Mary Ellen Condon as an additional Non Executive Director, continuing a role she held at IDESG up until its assets transitioned to Kantara and gives increased continuity with respect to those ex IDESG assets that are in the care of the Foundation. The Foundation was also received its non-profit determination letter from the IRS, a further step towards fulfilling its mission regarding grant-funded and and sponsored education and outreach. In Kantara Initiative Europe, work on evaluating the 2nd call proposals continued unabated through the holiday/New Year period, culminating in a meeting of the consortium partners in Brussels on Friday January 31st, the last day of the month to review the ranking of the marked proposals with European Commission officials. Of course the day was significant in another way as well, being the day that the UK officially withdrew from the European Union to commence the transition period. There was an interesting dynamic at work because the price of Eurostar train tickets were at an unprecedented low, the company clearly thinking that demand would fall away at this crucial time. As a consequence the train was busier than I ever remember it - a bell-weather for the future perhaps - at least I hope so.
The working groups have been busy also. The FIRE working group's Distributed Identity Assurance 1.0.0 Draft 1 and encourages initial reactions, suggestions and comments from the community. To be clear, this draft is an early version and not a final draft commencing Kantara's formal publication process for its Recommendations and Technical Specifications. The specification has attracted interest, while the Consent and Information Sharing Work Group has announced its intention to wind up and launch the had its final meetings before being archived this coming week. The new Information Sharing Interoperability Work Group is now underway with a broader scope and much more manageable IPR, to enable more projects to be worked on , such is the interest being generated by Kantara’s Consent Receipt. Join the ISI-WG here.simultaneously. The Federation Interoperability Working Group is about to release a minor .1 revision of its SAML V2.0 Implementation Work Group's SAMLv2.0 Deployment Profile for Federation Interoperability while also having its Deployment Profile companion out for completed its 45 day IPR review and public comment
The closing of NGI_Trust’s 2nd call for proposals has kept Kantara Europe busy as it prepares reviews. Some 90 proposals were received, 30 of which have to be evaluated by its small team by January 15th.
Remaining in Europe, we topped off an exciting year of additional strategic partnerships with a liaison with the newly formed UK based Arena for Data Protection Professionals (ADPP) this month. These folks really like Kantara’s assets in this domain and seek further collaboration. Kantara members in good standing get an immediate benefit with a 50% discount on ADPP membership £75 down from £150 in 2020. Please Contact Us for the code.
And last but most certainly not least, I am delighted to announce that Andi Hindle – Kantara member & UMA WG aficionado, Identiverse content chair, subject matter identity expert and all-round good guy – is our 6th staff contractor. He takes up the new role of Kantara’s UK Ambassador to progress Kantara’s footprint in the UK, complementing Chris Healy in a similar position in Washington DC. You can contact him on andi at kantarainitiative dot org or Contact Us.
Wishing you all a happy and will enter Kantara's formal publication process for its Recommendations and Technical Specifications. Coming up soon is the Health Identity Assurance Work Group's Report on Design Goals for a Healthcare Identity Environment Architecture. Last but by no means least is the Identity Assurance Work Group's facilitating discussions with NIST representatives regarding the aspects of the SP 800-63-3 Digital Identity Guidelines that have proven challenging for private sector conformance while also preparing comments on the draft Pan Canadian Trust Framework - this month responding to the Verified login component on its second iteration.
January is the month that we begin populating the Events calendar with conferences and similar events globally where Kantara has been allocated podium space for its members in good standing. And applying also to members, if you have been selected to speak at an event, please let us know, so that we can promote it through social media. Please keep returning to the Events page regularly and be sure to get conference discounts with our code.
New member announcements perfectly exemplify the promise that a New Year and a new decade bring to Kantara. It is with great pleasure that we welcome Microsoft to Kantara as an organization (non Board) member as well as UK based Folio Technologies Limited and Australian based Neocapita Security Consulting Pty. Ltd. Please also join me in welcoming Individual Contributor Hitoshi Kokumai known to many of you as the vanguard of the Expanded Password System and welcoming back renewing Board member digi.me and Individual Contributors Lisa LeVasseur and Mary Hodder.
Welcoming so many new and returning members in a single month really is the perfect way to to start a happy and prosperous New Year and new decade.
Cheers!Kantara looks forward to serving you all in your endeavours to lift the ecosystem.
Onwards!
Kind regards
Colin
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