RE: Does the W3C still believe in Tim Berners-Lee's vision of decentralization?

You make some fantastic points in this post, Drummond, I hope the objectors take the time to read it.
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Daniel Buchner
Decentralized Identity @ Microsoft
From: Drummond Reed <drummond.reed@evernym.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2021 11:57 PM
To: W3C DID Working Group <public-did-wg@w3.org>
Subject: Does the W3C still believe in Tim Berners-Lee's vision of decentralization?

I want to share this email I just sent to the W3C Advisory Committee regarding the DID 1.0 formal objection (FO) issue.

The Evernym blog post it links to is here: https://www.evernym.com/blog/w3c-vision-of-decentralization/<https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.evernym.com%2Fblog%2Fw3c-vision-of-decentralization%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cdaniel.buchner%40microsoft.com%7Cda85bb05d8df436f836e08d98e16b79d%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C637697051265724201%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=dGSIgebrtejz0FnmLjRl%2FW%2Fjer9V5g3DeVWbCoB5SX0%3D&reserved=0>

Best,

=Drummond
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Drummond Reed <drummond.reed@evernym.com<mailto:drummond.reed@evernym.com>>
Date: Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 11:54 PM
Subject: Does the W3C still believe in Tim Berners-Lee's vision of decentralization?
To: W3C AC Forum <w3c-ac-forum@w3.org<mailto:w3c-ac-forum@w3.org>>

AC Members,

Let me start by saying I appreciate the extensive discussion about the Formal Objection process over the past few days. I suspect it has helped educate many of us who are not involved in the intricacies of the W3C process (and how it needs to evolve to become "director-free"). It has also given me, as one editor of the DID 1.0 spec, a modicum of reassurance that the FO's lodged against it will be handled via a reasonable process.

Assuming that good faith, I'd like to turn the AC's attention to the substance of those FOs. Specifically, I want to follow the advice Tobie Langel gave yesterday in response to a suggestion by David Singer:

Anchoring decision-making into shared values and principles is critical for W3C's long-term credibility and for W3C to stay functional once "director-free."

I could not agree more. In the case of these FOs, I believe the principle at stake is decentralization.

Evernym joined the W3C four years ago specifically to work on standards for decentralized digital trust infrastructure, starting with verifiable credentials and DIDs. To be frank, we were skeptical that W3C was the right place for that work. The issue of centralization of the Web was already looming large-specifically as raised by Mozilla in their 2017 Internet Health Report<https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundation.mozilla.org%2Fen%2Finsights%2Finternet-health-report%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cdaniel.buchner%40microsoft.com%7Cda85bb05d8df436f836e08d98e16b79d%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C637697051265734159%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=D77GWLFVw8DTA7ey1fL54gw31JFyqEg1VpTqiS7QjxM%3D&reserved=0>. But Manu Sporny and other leaders of the W3C Credentials Community Group convinced us that the W3C was serious about decentralization. So we agreed to contribute our efforts here.

Four years later, the FOs lodged by Google, Apple, and Mozilla against the DID 1.0 spec have shaken our confidence. It would be one thing if these objections had serious merit. But we were frankly stunned at how much they reflected misunderstandings not only about the purpose and design of the DID 1.0 spec, but also about the other deliverables of the DID WG.

I realize that's a strong statement. So over the past week we worked to fully document this in a blog post we published tonight<https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.evernym.com%2Fblog%2Fw3c-vision-of-decentralization%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cdaniel.buchner%40microsoft.com%7Cda85bb05d8df436f836e08d98e16b79d%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C637697051265744113%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=kR3cpgtG5zQQdhihVpclZnR0yflV4vSMscg8kLQsrDE%3D&reserved=0>.

I urge you to read it and to share your thoughts on the topic of decentralization with the rest of the AC.

=Drummond

P.S. The conclusion of the blog post raises some questions about the motivations for these FOs. This is not meant to impugn Google's, Apple's, and Mozilla's intentions. It is meant to underscore that decentralization is about avoiding concentrations of power. There is no way around that issue-which is why it is so important that we discuss it here.