Re: Verifiable Data Registries

On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 10:30 AM MXS Insights <mxsinsights@gmail.com> wrote:

> I’ve been going through the recent DID's Editor’s Draft and a question
> came to mind on what the characteristics of a Verifiable Data Registry
> are.  So, I started looking through the VC spec and Data Model and find
> similar language across all the different spec’s, data models,...
>
> A role a system might perform by mediating the creation and verification
> <https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#dfn-verify> of identifiers, keys,
> and other relevant data, such as verifiable credential
> <https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#dfn-verifiable-credentials>
> schemas, revocation registries, issuer public keys, and so on, which might
> be required to use verifiable credentials
> <https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#dfn-verifiable-credentials>. Some
> configurations might require correlatable identifiers for subjects
> <https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#dfn-subjects>. Example verifiable
> data registries include trusted databases, decentralized databases,
> government ID databases, and distributed ledgers. Often there is more than
> one type of verifiable data registry utilized in an ecosystem.
>
> From: VC Data Model
>
> The question that came to mind, is there a more definitive definition of
> what a Verifiable Data Registry is?  What characteristics must it have?
> Usually, i have been equating it to a DLT, but I know that I have heard
> conversations indicating that it specifically was not restricted to this
> technology.
>

Michael, a verifiable data registry is definitely not limited to being a
DLT. I am currently working on a definition of the term for section 2
(Terminology) of the DID spec, since we made decision to switch from *DID
Registry* (which has always been a very confusing term in the context of
DIDs) to *Verifiable Data Registry* so that we are in fact using the same
term as was used in the Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.0 spec.

The short answer is that a VDR can be any system for which: a) a developer
wants to develop and publish a DID method, and b) verifiers will trust as a
cryptographic root of trust for the DIDs or other verifiable data rooted
there.

It's that simple. Literally any system can serve as a VDR, including P2P
networks that have nothing to do with DLTs or databases at all.

=Drummond


>
> Cheers!
>
> Michael Shea.
>