(1) DISCUSSION GROUP NAME (and any acronym or abbreviation of the name): The DG name, acronym and abbreviation must not include trademarks not owned by the Organization, or content that is infringing, harmful, or inappropriate.

• ID Legal – Map the Gap Discussion Group (MtG DG)

(2) DISCUSSION TOPIC/PURPOSE/MOTIVATION: Please provide a clear statement of the topic, purpose, and/or motivation for requesting the formation of this DG.

The ID Legal – Map the Gap Discussion Group (MtG DG) is a collaboration between the ID Commons (IDC) (1) Identity and Legal Communities Cross Pollination Group (ID Legal) (2) and Participants within various Kantara Initiative Working Groups. The focus of the MtG DG is on a “Mapping the Gap” event that was initially proposed within the ID Legal discussions (3).

The ID Legal project identified a need for an event that would bring Identity technology experts together with their professional counterparts in the legal and policy fields. The event would help build a community that can pursue an integrated approach to address the challenges as identity technologies evolve in tandem with policy, regulation, and case law.

The event is designed to “Map the Gap” among the legal, policy, and technical communities innovating digital identity systems. To do so, it will be important to attract global representation to include international perspectives when working toward solutions that scale across borders. In order to ensure a comprehensive global understanding of the issues, it is possible that additional events held within other jurisdictions will be necessary to attract widely representative participation.

Issues to be addressed include, but are not limited to:

• Unpacking the broad notion of 'identity' into the related issues where gaps need to be bridged between different stakeholders' views (such as personal identity, social identity, privacy, 'personally identifiable information', etc.)
• Laws not in sync with technology that create friction during technical deployment.
• New technology that is not in synch with existing laws and policy putting pressure both on existing technology and on laws as they continue to evolve.
• New laws create uncertainty in the technology development pipelines, potentially delaying advances in identity and privacy technology.

The “Map the Gap” event presupposes that technologists, lawyers, and policy makers need to work together to build a more comprehensive picture of 'identity' in which average people can successfully live and work. To work toward this vision, the event will create a space for collaboration in order to explore the answers to questions such as:

• How does the law define 'identity' and related terms (this may differ depending on context: e.g. Homeland Security/travel vs financial vs criminal)?
• How do technologists describe 'identity' (and does it differ by context as well)?
• How does the language of 'identity' relate to the legal and technical uses?
• What technology exists or is being built to support a common understanding of 'identity'?
• What “hybrid architecture” (technical, legal, and policy) could support a cohesive, scalable, and robust identity infrastructure?

Among the goals of this event are to:

• build an effective dialog between technologists, legal and policy professionals working on 'identity'.
• develop a basic gap analysis around identity frameworks.

The goals of the MtG DG are to:

• provide a mechanism to support the dialog between technologists and legal professionals working on 'identity'.
• facilitate the development of the “Map the Gap” event in Washington D.C., tentatively scheduled for February, 2010
• provide a mechanism to collaborate on a report that emerges from the event.
• act as a springboard for follow-on activities identified by the event, possibly holding additional events that focus on other legal and regulatory environments.

(1) http://idcommons.net/

(2) http://wiki.idcommons.net/ID-Legal_Charter

(3) http://wiki.idcommons.net/ID-Legal_Conf_Plan_Outline

(3) LEADERSHIP: Proposed DG Chair subject to confirmation by a vote of the DG Participants.
Convening Co-Chairs:

• J. Trent Adams (Internet Society)
• Scott David (K&L Gates)

(4) AUDIENCE: Anticipated Participants in this DG.

• Identity Commons ID Legal participants
• Kantara P3WG participants
• Kantara eGov WG participants
• Kantara ULX WG participants
• Internet Society, Greater Washington DC Chapter (ISOC-DC)
• Legal and Policy professionals
• Identity technology professionals
• Industry representatives working on identity issues

(5) COPYRIGHT POLICY: The Organization approved Intellectual Property Rights Policy to cover any copyright material that may be produced as a result of DG 'Participants' posts to the wiki or email archives.

Kantara Initiative IPR Policy – Option Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike

(6) PROPOSERS: Names, email addresses, and any constituent affiliations of at least the minimum set of proposers required to support forming the DG. At least 3 Participants are required to request formation of a DG.

• Lucy Lynch, Internet Society, lynch@isoc.org
• J. Trent Adams, Internet Society, adams@isoc.org
• Robin Wilton, Future Identity Ltd, futureidentity@fastmail.fm
• Scott David, K&L Gates, scott.david@klgates.com
• Kaliya Hamlin, kaliya@mac.com