2019: December

Owned by Colin Wallis (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 03, 2020
4 min read

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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I’m writing this as we begin to put the memories of holidays and celebrations to one side and prepare to progress those resolutions – both recent and long held – as we commence a new year and indeed a new decade.

This is very much the case for Kantara as we put our 10th Anniversary celebrations behind us and look forward to our 11th year of serving you, our members and supporters that comprise the global digital identity and privacy communities.   

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 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 Consent and Information Sharing Work Group has announced its intention to wind up and launch the Information Sharing Interoperability Work Group with a broader scope to enable more projects to be worked on, such is the interest being generated by Kantara’s Consent Receipt. Join the ISI-WG here.

The Federation Interoperability Working Group is about to release a minor .1 revision of its SAML V2.0 Implementation Profile for Federation Interoperability while also having its Deployment Profile companion out for 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 prosperous New Year and new decade.

Cheers!

Colin

Around the Houses:

Marketing:

Program, Work Group and Discussion Group Updates:

  • You can always keep up with the latest news from the Work and Discussion Groups directly on the Leadership Council's Blog. See the list of public groups here.

  • As always, our Specifications, Recommendations and Reports are available for download from our Reports and Recommendations web repository - now with frictionless access.  

  • Not sure where to find things? Membership Bella, Ruth, Armin, Oliver, Chris, Andi and myself are only too willing to assist.  Contact them here.

Events: See them all here!