[AGENDA: VC-EDU] Verifiable Credentials for Education Task Force Call Mon May 8

TL;DR  Christopher Allen: The Next Step in Digital Credentials — Hash-based Elision. (See links below for more info)

NEXT MEETING:

Monday, May 8th, 2023
Time: 8am PDT / 9am CST / 11am EDT / 3pm GMT/ 4pm CET
(see: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20230508T150000&p1=tz_pt&p2=155&p3=tz_et&p4=tz_gmt&p5=tz_cet <https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20230508T150000&p1=tz_pt&p2=155&p3=tz_et&p4=tz_gmt&p5=tz_cet>)


Jitsi Teleconf:
      https://meet.w3c-ccg.org/education

Text Chat:
      http://irc.w3.org/?channels=ccg
      irc://irc.w3.org:6665/#ccg
Voice:
     US phone: tel:+1.602.932.2243;3

Duration: 60 minutes

AGENDA:
1. IP Note:
Anyone can participate in these calls. However, all substantive contributors to any CCG Work Items must be members of the CCG with full IPR agreements signed. https://www.w3.org/community/credentials/join
    a. Ensure you have a W3 account: https://www.w3.org/accounts/request
    b. W3C COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTOR LICENSE AGREEMENT (CLA): https://www.w3.org/community/about/agreements/cla/
2. Call Notes: 
    a. These minutes and an audio recording of everything said on this call are archived at https://w3c-ccg.github.io/meetings/
    b. We use chat/IRC to queue speakers during the call as well as to take minutes. http://irc.w3.org/?channels=ccg or http://irc.w3.org:6665/#ccg or the Jitsi text chat.
    c. In chat/IRC type “q+” to add yourself to the queue, with an optional reminder, e.g., “q+ to mention something”. The “to” is required. More IRC commands here: https://w3c-ccg.github.io/irc_ref.html
    d. If you’re not on chat/IRC, simply ask to be put on the queue.
    e. Please be brief so the rest of the queue get a chance to chime in. You can always q+ again.
3. Introductions & Reintroductions
4. Announcements & Reminders
Upcoming CCG Meetings & Events: https://w3c-ccg.github.io/announcements/
5. Main Topic: The Next Step in Digital Credentials — Hash-based Elision


ABSTRACT: Digital credentials are a better way of sharing credentials: they simplify administration and usage. But they can be dangerous because of insufficient protections for privacy, opening up the doors for institutional liability and for personal discrimination. 

One solution is holder-based, hash-based elision, which allows a credential holder to remove data, but for any signatures to remain valid through the use of cryptographic hashes and Merkle Trees. This supports simple data minimization, a cornerstone of privacy, but it also can enable more advanced features such as herd privacy. 

Blockchain Commons' Gordian Envelope supports all of this functionality, but fundamentally we need to use some method (whether it's Gordian Envelope, SD-JWT, LD Merkle, or BBS+) and turn data minimization and user control into requirements (MUSTs not MAYs) for educational credentials. Otherwise, we may create serious new problems as we transition credentials to the digital world. 

-- Christopher Allen is the Founder and Executive Director of Blockchain Commons. He is an entrepreneur and technologist who specializes in internet & blockchain security, digital identity, collaboration, and trust. He is also a pioneer in internet security and co-author of the IETF TLS internet standard that is now at the heart of secure commerce on the World Wide Web, and co-author of the W3C Decentralized Identifier (DID) standard.

-- Wolf McNally is Lead Researcher at Blockchain Commons. There, he collaborated with Christopher Allen to develop the specifications that underlie the Gordian Architecture, including descriptions, CDDL definitions, and test vectors for those specs. He also created the Lifehash visual hash algorithm that Blockchain Commons has adopted.

* VC-EDU PRESENTATION: https://tinyurl.com/gordian-educational-pdf <https://tinyurl.com/gordian-educational-pdf>

* INTRO TO GORDIAN ENVELOPE: https://tinyurl.com/gordian-envelope <https://tinyurl.com/gordian-envelope>
* GORDIAN ENVELOPE VIDEOS: https://tinyurl.com/gordian-videos <https://tinyurl.com/gordian-videos>
* EDUCATIONAL USE CASES: https://tinyurl.com/gordian-educational <https://tinyurl.com/gordian-educational>