November, 2019

Welcome to the third issue of DIF Monthly, the monthly newsletter of Decentralized Identity Foundation! We aspire to give you the latest updates on the work of the decentralized identity community every month.

Foundation News

  • The Identifiers & Discovery Working Group is excited to announce that work on the DID Configuration specification is complete. This spec enables controllers of DNS Domain and DIDs to bi-directional linkage via a discoverable, verifiable JSON resource. Link.
  • The Glossary Group is getting started! The goal is to facilitate the emergence of vocabulary that is widely accepted across the decentralized identity community/industry. Work will be done across a whole range of projects and efforts to understand what language is currently being used in the industry, and to support convergence on some core definitions. If you would like to join, signal your interest in an email to this address: GGā€™s mailing list.
  • uPort donated much of its core libraries to DIF. Read below.

šŸ› ļø Working Group Updates

ā˜‚ļø InterOp Project

Demonstrating interoperability across various teams/project and technology stack.

Chairs: Orie Steele & Rouven Heck
GitHub Repos: <interop>

Worked on the contribution model, and about how to structure of the interoperability repo.

In the near future:

Create a website demo for interoperability, to help the members in contributing to projects.

Please note:

  • If you would like your DID Method / Agent or Hub implementation to be supported, please use GitHub issues and contribute to the InterOp discussion in related working groups. Criticism is very welcome, donā€™t be afraid to have strong opinions.
  • You can join the mailing list by sending an email to this address.

Identifiers & Discovery

How people, organizations, and devices can be identified and located without centralized systems.

Chairs: Jude Nelson & Markus Sabadello
GitHub Repos: <universal resolver> | <.well-known> | <sidetree>

  • Prepared for first formal version and IANA registration of .well-known DID configuration spec. Link.
  • Received Universal Resolver driver submissions for did:work and did:ccp. Link.

Discussions of DID spec topics: how to rotate/revoke keys; how to resolve initial state of DIDs that havenā€™t been anchored yet.

In the near future:

  • Sidetree protocol will receive the final technical plans and implementations for the last v1-blocking protocol items.
  • Continue to maintain Universal Resolver, Sidetree, and .well-known DID configuration specs.
  • Design automatic CI and CD processes for Universal Resolver.
  • Track W3C progress on DID specs.

Storage & Compute

Secure, encrypted, privacy-preserving storage and computation of data.

Chairs: Daniel Buchner & Sam Curren
GitHub Repos: <identity-hub>

  • Generated a scoping document for the upcoming Identity Hub / personal datastore formal specification. The document covers an MVP agreement on high-level functional requirements and capabilities deemed necessary by the WG. Link.

Currently researching existing data storage, transfer, and sync technologies that could be used as the basis of the specification and subsequent implementation. The frontrunners under examination are currently Couch DB, Orbit DB, Dat, and Scuttlebutt.

In the near future:

  • Draft the formal specification of Identity Hub.
  • Choose a data storage, transfer and sync technology to implement before the end of November.

šŸ›”ļø Claims & Credentials

Verifying claims and assertions of identities.

Chairs: Kim Duffy & Martin Riedel
GitHub Repos: <did-jwt-wc> | <papers> | <credential-manifest>

  • The Working Group bi-weekly meeting to be rescheduled due to an overlap with the W3C CCG meeting times.

DID Auth

DID-based authentication specs, standards, and libraries.

Chairs: Kyle den Hartog & Oliver Terbu
GitHub Repos: <authentication-wg> | <DIDComm-js> | <did-siop> | <did-authn/siop>

Most of the team was occupied with conferences and professional events last month - for example, demos for DID AuthN SIOP (by MSFT and Evernym) were seen at IIW.

In the near future:

  • Finish up DID AuthN SIOP, including JavaScript implementation.
  • Focus on DID Comm and provide secure messaging between DID entities.

šŸ¦„ Member Updates

Bloom

  • Bloom released a new CLI which replicates the functionality of the BloomID client. Using the Credential Playground developers can build prototype applications that issue and consume Verifiable Credentials. Link.
  • Bloom open-sourced their TX Service which automates nonce management and enables high throughput of Ethereum transactions coming from a single address. Link.

Danube Tech

  • Danube Tech has been selected for an award by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop interoperability infrastructure for issuers and verifiers of digital credentials. Danube Tech intends to align this work closely with efforts at DIF, re-using existing components such as the Universal Resolver. Link.

Jolocom

  • Jolocom joined the W3C as an official member and looks forward to supporting the organizationā€™s various working groups, in particular, contributing to standardization efforts around DIDs carried out by the Decentralized Identifier Working Group. Link.

Spherity

  • Spherity recently closed a round of seed funding led by HTGF, a German tech fund, and is hiring for many positions to support the final stages of productizing their modular enterprise SSI solution. Link.
  • To facilitate education at various levels, Spherity is overhauling its developer documentation and publishing a series of introductory essays (#SSI101) as well as industry-specific use-case overviews (#SSI201) and thought-leadership pieces on its Medium account. Link.

Industry News

Workday


Workday introduced a blockchain-based system for verifying worker credentials and identity called Workday Credentials. The system is meant to move credentials into the digital realm, enabling employers to issue credentials to workers, and verify and manage worker credentials instantly via blockchain. Link

Events

GBC2019 - Convergence - The Global Blockchain Congress

Nov 11-13, Malaga, Spain

  • The event is co-organized by the Blockchain Observatory and Forum.
  • As the most important blockchain-related events in the EU, Convergence brings the global community together for an intense exploration of convergent trends in blockchain technology, regulation and research, as well as of blockchainā€™s impact on the economy, business, and society as a whole.
  • Check out the speakers and program here!

DWEB3 - DWeb.Design #3 - Open source design & Design for open source
Nov 18, Berlin, Germany

  • DWeb.Design connects Berlins open source ecosystem and designersā€™ community under one roof to discuss what does it take to design for open source, and what are the designers incentives behind creating content and distributing them under open-source licenses.
  • Check out the speakers and program here!

DIF / Media

ā€˜uPort donates code to the Decentralized Identity Foundationā€™, on DIFā€™s Blog.
TLDR; uPort has donated much of its core libraries to DIF (the Decentralized Identity Foundation). Our goal is to move the needle forward on interoperability in the Decentralized Identity space.

Metrics

Medium:
972 followers | 2047 minutes read | 45 daily unique visitors
Twitter:
3111 followers | 10.7k tweet impressions | 233 profile visits
identity.foundation:
9046 unique visitors

In the last 30 days

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