Re: Input needed: US Federal Reserve Payments Position Paper

Having worked a decade from inside government (not the US), one of my
observations is that the substantive people at the manager and director
level within the system who very often strongly support open standards are
just as often looked upon as quaint by more senior folk who see everything
through a political lens. It's easy for the senior politicos to perceive
the pro-standards geeks as "off on their own thing" and "purists" -- unless
of course stakeholders "out there" state that we expect standards
compliance, not only as a general principle, but by name: this standard,
that guideline, this code of conduct.  Or to put it another way, the people
on the inside arguing that any new payments system should conform with open
standards could use our gentle but explicit help.

I don't expect the Fed is different than any other gov entity in this
aspect.

Joseph Potvin


On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 8:25 PM, Pindar Wong <pindar.wong@gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Joseph,
>
> I've no idea about the internal dynamics inside the Fed. Perhaps you're
> right. However, precisely because they are a sophisticated lot they don't
> require enumeration or reiteration of such international guidelines and
> standards.
>
> The point I'm trying to make is to stick to our knitting without being
> overly narrow in claims that might raise or cast contextual doubt.
>
> It's an open consultation, so if other entities such at those  listed IMF,
> ISO/IEC, WTO* want to contribute to the Fed consultation they are welcome
> to do so.
>
> IMHO we do want the Fed to be very much aware of our work, and where
> relevant, provide their engagement and contribution i.e. we want to start a
> dialogue.
>
> Unlike other institutional processes, all our deliberations are open,
> clearly if they do their homework, they will note these observations in
> this thread.
>
> To that, we should welcome the Fed ;)
>
> Best,
>
> p.
>
> *the WTO meeting in Bali successfully concluded last week.  Obviously we
> can reach out to these other groups over time, and have  started to do so
> via our participation in events such as the IGF. For example, one of
> speakers on Manu's IGF panel wrote this missive:-
>
>
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20131202_learning_to_love_the_wto_how_trade_policy_can_save_open_internet/
>
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 8:14 AM, Joseph Potvin <jpotvin@opman.ca> wrote:
>
>> Pindar, I'd share you thought on that in many scenarios, but the people
>> who will be looking at these submissions are a sophisticated lot, and I
>> cannot imagine that a high-level reference to specific existing
>> international guidelines and standards, without any details, would confuse
>> them.  If anything, my expectation is that there's a significant proportion
>> of middle to middle-senior staff inside the Fed dearly hoping at least some
>> external stakeholders would raise such matters, so they they can be
>> empowered work towards aligning Fed ops with international standards.
>>
>> Joseph
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 6:39 PM, Pindar Wong <pindar.wong@gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Less we confuse them I'd suggest to keep it simple and just state
>>>
>>> Adoption of these Web-based payment technologies will not only address
>>> the problems outlined in the payment improvements paper, but also
>>> provide the flexibility to
>>> improve alignment with international standards and norms over time.
>>>
>>> m2c.
>>>
>>> p.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 5:33 AM, Dave Longley <
>>> dlongley@digitalbazaar.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 12/09/2013 04:19 PM, Joseph Potvin wrote:
>>>> > Sure. A tweak indicated with {{  }}
>>>> >
>>>> > Adoption of these Web-based payment technologies will not only address
>>>> > the problems outlined in the payment improvements paper, but also
>>>> > improve alignment with international {{guidelines and standards}}
>>>> > like [insert IMF, WTO, ISO/IEC stuff here].
>>>>
>>>> +1
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 4:13 PM, Manu Sporny <
>>>> msporny@digitalbazaar.com
>>>> > <mailto:msporny@digitalbazaar.com>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >     On 12/09/2013 04:04 PM, Joseph Potvin wrote:
>>>> >     > If you look at the rest of that section "Government Regulatory
>>>> >     > Environment", my recommended text referring to an existing IMF
>>>> >     > guideline seems by far the most conservative statement in there.
>>>> >     >
>>>> >     > Should a W3C group be shy about recommending alignment with
>>>> existing
>>>> >     > international standards and guidelines?
>>>> >
>>>> >     No it shouldn't, but remember, this isn't the payments group
>>>> talking,
>>>> >     it's just me and anyone else that wants to put their name on the
>>>> paper.
>>>> >     We should push standards usage as long as it doesn't detract from
>>>> the
>>>> >     primary message. What about saying something to this effect:
>>>> >
>>>> >     Adoption of these Web-based payment technologies will not only
>>>> address
>>>> >     the problems outlined in the payment improvements paper, but also
>>>> >     improve alignment with international financial transparency
>>>> initiatives
>>>> >     like [insert IMF, WTO, ISO/IEC stuff here].
>>>> >
>>>> >     -- manu
>>>> >
>>>> >     --
>>>> >     Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny, G+: +Manu
>>>> Sporny)
>>>> >     Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
>>>> >     blog: Meritora - Web payments commercial launch
>>>> >     http://blog.meritora.com/launch/
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > --
>>>> > Joseph Potvin
>>>> > Operations Manager | Gestionnaire des opérations
>>>> > The Opman Company | La compagnie Opman
>>>> > http://www.projectmanagementhotel.com/projects/opman-portfolio
>>>> > jpotvin@opman.ca <mailto:jpotvin@opman.ca>
>>>> > Mobile: 819-593-5983
>>>> > LinkedIn (Google short URL): http://goo.gl/Ssp56
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Dave Longley
>>>> CTO
>>>> Digital Bazaar, Inc.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Joseph Potvin
>> Operations Manager | Gestionnaire des opérations
>> The Opman Company | La compagnie Opman
>> http://www.projectmanagementhotel.com/projects/opman-portfolio
>> jpotvin@opman.ca
>> Mobile: 819-593-5983
>> LinkedIn (Google short URL): http://goo.gl/Ssp56
>>
>
>


-- 
Joseph Potvin
Operations Manager | Gestionnaire des opérations
The Opman Company | La compagnie Opman
http://www.projectmanagementhotel.com/projects/opman-portfolio
jpotvin@opman.ca
Mobile: 819-593-5983
LinkedIn (Google short URL): http://goo.gl/Ssp56