Re: DIDs and VCs mentioned on US Capitol Hill Hearing

Thanks Anil, this was super helpful!

p.


On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 4:58 AM, John, Anil <anil.john@hq.dhs.gov> wrote:

> The verbal part of the hearings on the Hill tend to provide a very limited
> view into the background, scope, and motivations of the work simply because
> the public statements are limited to 5 minutes and the conversation is
> constrained to answering the questions asked.
>
>
>
> A more complete view point on the work can be found in DHS S&T’s written
> testimony (PDF) @ https://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.
> house.gov/files/documents/HHRG-115-SY21-WState-DMaughan-20180507.pdf
>
>
>
> A web-friendly excerpt can be found at:
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dhs-st-leveraging-
> blockchain-technology-improve-supply-anil-john
>
>
>
> Since people sometimes have questions about DHS S&T interests and
> motivations in this space, let me short circuit that a bit and provide a
> quick synopsis below:
>
>
>
> *“… the challenge with blockchain technology is the potential for the
> development of “walled gardens” or closed technology platforms that do not
> support common standards for security, privacy, and data exchange. This
> would limit the growth and availability of a competitive marketplace of
> diverse, interoperable solutions for government and industry to draw upon
> to deliver cost effective and innovative services based on blockchain and
> distributed ledger technologies.*
>
> *…*
>
> *To that end, DHS S&T is pursuing two broad courses of action to encourage
> a more open and inclusive future for blockchain technology:*
>
> *1.       **Support development of globally available specifications
> (precursor to standards) that are open, royalty free, and free to implement
> to ensure interoperability across systems while ensuring there is no vendor
> lock-in.*
>
> *a.       **Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) via World Wide Web
> Consortium (W3C) Standardization Process*
>
> *b.       **Verifiable Credentials/Claims Data Model via W3C
> Standardization Process*
>
> *c.       **Decentralized Key Management System via TBD (Potentially
> OASIS)*
>
> *2.       **Actively work with and support our DHS Component customers,
> such as CBP, to understand their potential use cases for blockchain and
> help them achieve their outcomes with the needed R&D expertise and
> technologies.*
>
>
>
> *We believe that our careful and considered approach benefits not just us
> but everyone who is considering the use of a blockchain technology in the
> long term by ensuring there is no vendor lock-in and there are multiple
> vendors with interoperable solutions from which we can buy.”*
>
>
>
> In addition to supporting and championing these interoperability efforts
> we are consciously USING these specifications in our proof of concepts and
> pilots – the intent there is to ensure that practical implementation
> lessons from those efforts are provided as input into the work here and in
> other global standards organizations to ensure that as these specifications
> move down the standardization path, they are informed by practical,
> business driven implementations and use cases rather than conceptual ones.
>
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
>
>
> -          Anil
>
>
>
> Anil John
>
> Cyber Security R&D Program Manager
>
> Science and Technology Directorate
>
> US Department of Homeland Security
>
> Washington, DC, USA
>
> anil.john@hq.dhs.gov
>
>
>
> Email Response Time – 24 Hours
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *Manu Sporny* <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
> Date: Wed, May 9, 2018 at 1:12 PM
> Subject: DIDs and VCs mentioned on US Capitol Hill Hearing
> To: W3C Verifiable Credentials Working Group <public-vc-wg@w3.org>, W3C
> Credentials CG <public-credentials@w3.org>
>
>
> Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identifiers were mentioned
> yesterday during the US Capitol Hearing on Leveraging Blockchain
> Technology to Improve Supply Chain Management:
>
> https://youtu.be/J7aCUM2RfJA?t=34m56s
>
> Good job everyone! The work we're doing here is a part of publicly
> recorded national dialogue now... :)
>
> Many thanks to DHS S&T for partially funding some of this work[1][2] and
> helping all of us spread the message on Capitol Hill and to US lawmakers.
>
> -- manu
>
> [1]https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/
> 2017/09/25/news-release-dhs-st-awards-750k-virginia-tech-company
>
> [2]https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/
> 2017/07/20/news-release-dhs-st-awards-749k-evernym-decentralized-key
>
> --
> Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny, G+: +Manu Sporny)
> Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
> blog: Veres One Decentralized Identifier Blockchain Launches
> https://tinyurl.com/veres-one-launches
>
>
>
>
>