Greetings folks
This is the running update from the Executive Director. Have questions or comments? Suggest some added information or edits? Contact the ED colin@kantarainitiative.org
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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 silhouletted 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... scary!
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 memorabe for all the right reasons.
And there is a lot we can do.
In the world of identity we have been witness to the rise and rise of Blockchain that might or might not herald a new dimension to counterbalance the rise and rise of identity theft and hacking on a scale hitherto unseen, with no target immune.
And in the world of privacy and personal data, our electronic connectedness sees a global rippling effect on us 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 and 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 - things 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. I hope that is why you are here on this site, reading this and identifying yourself with the pivotal role that this organization plays.
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 mobile world - gaining attention and rapid adoption, not only from the tech, 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 have become masters in conformity assessment with our experience in operating the Identity Assurance program, with a clutch of partners looking at how we can extend it to their trust frameworks. And we have the other WGs and DGs working towards their goals, such as but not limited to the new paradiym that IRM portends and that ID Pro program strives to frame up as the home for digital identity professionals.
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Cheers!
Colin
Around the Houses:.
Liaisons:
- Kantara and EEMA the European Association for e-identity and Security, signed a Memorandum of Understanding Paris on November 15th. The MOU aims to facilitate collaboration between the two organizations in Europe combining EEMA's network of relationships with Kantara's programs and innovation development platforms.
New Activities:
- The Board and several Leadership Council Chairs have commenced 'Tiger Team' meetings to re-craft the organization's strategy for 2017. The teams cover the organization's Mission, Activities and Membership. We expect to be report out on the results of this work late February. It is a time consuming but immensely valuable exercise which is bringing forward some really innovative ideas. I look forward to sharing them with you.
New Members: Kantara welcomes new member Andi Hindle and Eli Fisk. Great to have you aboard Andi and Eli!
Marketing:
- Stand by for a short end-of-year satisfaction survey of members. All we do, we do for you. So please take a little time to complete the survey to tell us we have things right or where we can improve.
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 has split deliverables into 4 project streams: Body Of Knowledge, Governance, Membership and Services, and Code of Practice. ID Pro is aiming to open the DG to further membership in late February once this phase of pre-formation is complete.
- As always if you have a query or question, staff are only to willing to assist. Email them on staff@kantarainitiative.org
Events:
- You can find the events we hope to see you at here on the events page on the website. In the immediate term we have two personal information related events in London coming up in December 16 and January 16, hosted by our good friends at Digital Catapult. Meanwhile we are in concentrated planning mode for our 2017 events. Stay tuned folks!