Re: CCG mascot?

Hard to imagine a more apt choice.

While I fully agree with Phil regarding my general discomfort, this mascot + output below is why our “situationship” with AI is so complicated. Thanks, manu— I sincerely hope we, without waiver, keep our personal morals and industry ethics intact.

⸻


🐾 Symbolic Resonance


1. Armor of Trust (Verifiable Credentials)


Pangolins are covered in overlapping, protective scales, much like how verifiable credentials work—layered, interoperable, and privacy-preserving. Each scale represents a discrete credential or proof, together forming a resilient trust architecture.


Just as the pangolin’s armor protects without aggression, the W3C CCG builds trust frameworks that empower without surveillance.


2. Elusive, Yet Essential


Pangolins are quiet, nocturnal, and rarely seen, yet play an essential role in their ecosystems. Similarly, the W3C CCG often works behind the scenes, crafting the interoperability standards that allow decentralized identity to function in ways that most users never see—but deeply rely on.


The best infrastructure disappears into the background—as does the pangolin.


3. Vulnerable and Worth Protecting


Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world, due to misinformation and exploitation. In this, they parallel the human identity systems we aim to transform—systems often preyed upon by centralized power, surveillance capitalism, and misinformation.


The pangolin reminds us of what happens when we don’t protect our most sensitive layers of identity and data.


⸻


🧬 Functional Parallels


4. Interoperable Anatomy


Pangolins exist in multiple continents (Africa and Asia), adapting to local environments while maintaining core biology. Like DIDs and VCs, the pangolin is a model of global interoperability with local sovereignty.


Think of the pangolin as nature’s multi-ledger-compatible agent.


5. Zero-Knowledge Behavior


When threatened, pangolins curl into a tight ball, revealing nothing but their defensive exterior. This is the zero-knowledge proof of the animal kingdom: providing enough information to verify safety, while revealing nothing deeper, private and self-sacrificing.


⸻


💡 Philosophical Fit


The W3C CCG community is:

• Quietly radical

• A defender of human dignity and privacy

• An advocate for bottom-up, decentralized collaboration

• A builder and steward of secure, permissionless ecosystems


So too is the pangolin.


🌀 In a world of roaring lions and cunning foxes, the pangolin offers another model: quiet resilience, elegant defense, and vital presence.


⸻


🧷 Bonus: Memetic Advantage

• Unique & Unforgettable: Not just another fox or owl—the pangolin stands out.

• Metaphor-rich: Armor, vulnerability, secrecy, ecology—all analogues for the CCG mission.

• Meme-able: Curling up = privacy. Uncurling = consent-based disclosure. Excellent for zines, swag, and resonant media.


⸻


TL;DR:


The pangolin is the perfect mascot for the W3C CCG because it symbolizes protective trust, elegant defense, and global interoperability. It reminds us that the most resilient systems are often quiet, dignified, and built to preserve life, not exploit it.


</AI>

Best,
Tayken

P.s. In the future, I imagine Privvy’s preferred messaging app to be bitchat<https://github.com/jackjackbits/bitchat>. Just sayin’ 😜

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Taylor Kendal
President, Learning Economy Foundation

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________________________________
From: Phillip Long <pdlong2@asu.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 7, 2025 10:14 AM
To: Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
Cc: W3C Credentials CG <public-credentials@w3.org>
Subject: Re: CCG mascot?

I like the new cite, though I’m somewhat uncomfortable with vibe AI programming approach as I’m generally uncomfortable with the overblown hype around LLMs. When someone who really knows the expected outcome is proofing it, it can be helpful (LLMs). And here that’s true.

I really like the suggestion that we live up to our principles and "we might consider ways in which we can donate to the arts in order to keep our personal morals and industry ethics intact.”  I strongly support that action.

Phil


Senior Consultant, Office of the CIO
ASU Enterprise Technologies, VC/LER,Digital Identities
https://tech.asu.edu/infosec-digital-trust

e: pdlong2@asu.edu<mailto:pdlong2@asu.edu>
--
LER Network Consultant
T3 Innovation Network
US Chamber of Commerce Foundation
https://t3networkhub.org

e: phil@rhzconsulting.com<mailto:phil@rhzconsulting.com>
T: (434) 234-4479‬

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All credit goes to Midjourney (AI) and, really, the hundreds of
thousands of artists it trained on. :)

That artwork, nor the vast majority of the new CCG website content, is
mine -- vibe coding is a slippery slope -- I'm just giving general
direction, reviewing the output, and ensuring it aligns w/ what this
community has been doing over the past 11 years. This is an
experiment, and if we decide to go with the outcome, we might consider
ways in which we can donate to the arts in order to keep our personal
morals and industry ethics intact. There's an argument for fair use in
the text content generated for the CCG website... the same probably
doesn't hold for the mascot.

... and that's not an invitation to have a debate about the morality
and ethics about vibe coding and the generation of art; this mailing
list isn't the venue for that -- just trying to not take credit for
other people's work, whoever they might be. :)

-- manu

--
Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/

Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
https://www.digitalbazaar.com/