[MINUTES] W3C Veres One CG Call - 2019-07-08 12pm ET

Thanks to Adam Lake for scribing this week! The minutes
for this week's Veres One CG telecon are now available:

https://veres-one.github.io/meetings/2019-07-08/

Full text of the discussion follows for W3C archival purposes.
Audio from the meeting is available as well (link provided below).

----------------------------------------------------------------
W3C Veres One CG Telecon Minutes for 2019-07-08

Agenda:
  https://veres.one/
Topics:
  1. Meeting Process
  2. Introductions
  3. Status of Veres One Testnet
  4. Status of Veres One Foundation
  5. Governance Hand-over of Veres One Network
Organizer:
  Manu Sporny and Adam Lake
Scribe:
  Adam Lake
Present:
  Anriette Esterhuysen, Anja Kovacs, Adam Lake, Manu Sporny, Matt 
  Collier, Mishi Choudhary, Charles Nevile, Xiaodong Lee
Audio:
  https://veres-one.github.io/meetings/2019-07-08/audio.ogg

Adam Lake is scribing.

Topic: Meeting Process

Manu Sporny:  Reminder, we are recording calls and chat, standard 
  operating procedures for W3C
Mishi Choudhary:  It might be good to have certain things 
  discussed offline for liability reasons.
Manu Sporny:  Agreed. By default we want to make calls public
Manu Sporny:  We are running calls this way, recorded, to achieve 
  transparency. We can strike things from the call if need be but 
  we should try not to mention those items on these calls. When we 
  finish the call the transcription goes to the VOCG mailing list. 
  The other reason we run the calls this way is because the W3C has 
  a good, established, IP structure and agreement.
Manu Sporny:  We are reusing a W3C call process that has been in 
  practice for 25 years. We have a chat channel as well for queuing 
  and types questions and other admin functions.
Anja Kovacs: No questions from me.

Topic: Introductions

Anja Kovacs:  Normally based in India, internet Democracy 
  Project. Intersections of internet policy and social rights. 
  Currently based in Rio researching data governance for the IDP.
Anriette Esterhuysen:  Based in Johannesburg, long time at 
  Association for Progressive Communication. Support work at 
  internet governance forum among many other...
Mishi Choudhary:  Based in New York and sometimes in New Delhi. 
  Lawyer for free and open source software project. Founder of SFLC 
  software freedom law center...internet freedom.
Charles Nevile:  Been doing Standards at W3C for 20+ years and am 
  currently working on enterprise Ethereum alliance and Consensus. 
  I have worked on accessibility and semantic Web. Based in Madrid.
Adam Lake:  Hi, Adam Lake, I have been organizing a lot of the 
  behind the scenes stuff for Veres One, such as the creation of 
  the non-profit of the Foundation, recruiting the board and 
  advisors, announcements, by-laws for non-profit, engaging with 
  legal, etc.
Matt Collier:  Hi, My name is Matt Collier and I'm one of the 
  primary engineers on Veres One, handle the releases and operation 
  of the network.
Manu Sporny:  Hi, Manu Sporny, one of the co-founders of this 
  project and delighted that we have such a great turn out for our 
  first Board of Governors meeting. I'm in awe that we were able to 
  get each of you involved and that you are participating to help 
  build and operate this very important Internet and Web 
  infrastructure.

Topic: Status of Veres One Testnet

Manu Sporny:  Apologies for being out of touch for so long. 
  Concept of the Veres One Network started last year, when we 
  launched the testnet in Feb 2018, 18 months ago. The network has 
  been live 24/7 since then.
Manu Sporny:  One issue we did have was that the TLS certs that 
  would not auto renew. We believe this has been fixed.
Manu Sporny:  Guiding principle at the beginning was that we 
  would not launch with a cryptocurrency because they are unstable 
  due to speculation. We still think this was the right decision 
  but it also means we are not as resourced as some others who have 
  done ICOs.
Manu Sporny:  We want to keep the cost as low as possible.
Manu Sporny:  A new testnet launched a few weeks ago. Updates 
  keep us inline with the DID spec, has better scaling, and fix 
  various bugs. We have not publicly announced the Veres One 
  testnet and would like to do so next week unless there are 
  objections.
Manu Sporny:  We are marching towards a production release by the 
  end of 2019. There is one major bug that we need to address 
  related to a concerted attack by a well funded entity. We need to 
  deploy a recovery mode for the network, which we are working on 
  mathematical proofs for.
Xiadong: hi! Are you able to join the call?
Xiaodong Lee: Hello, can't join the call but will follow in IRC.
Anriette Esterhuysen: Hi Xiadong :)
Anriette Esterhuysen: No questions from me.
Manu Sporny:  We don't want to rush the network into production. 
  We want to launch in a responsible way so we don't have a defined 
  launch date.

Topic: Status of Veres One Foundation

Manu Sporny:  Canada ended up being the best place to 
  incorporate. We are working with https://drache.ca/
Manu Sporny:  We will share all of the docs, bylaws ect...,with 
  the BOG before anything is final. There will be D&O insurance 
  before the foundation is handed over.
Manu Sporny:  We are moving forward with incorporation but are 
  taking our time to get it right.

Topic: Governance Hand-over of Veres One Network

Manu Sporny:  The Veres One Network, right now, is a bunch of 
  technology, up on github for review. The desire is to hand the 
  management of that source code over to the Veres One Foundation 
  and decouple decision making authority for the network from 
  Digital Bazaar. A for-profit company should not be in managing 
  the Global Public Utility.
Manu Sporny:  There are three parts to the network. One is the 
  Veres One Community Group, which is open to anyone and in the 
  public record. the CG sends proposal to the Advisory Council, all 
  domain experts in their area. The Advisory Council gives 
  recommendations to the BOG. The BOG approves or rejects 
  proposals. If rejected the BOG explains why.
Manu Sporny:  The Maintainer implements technical proposals that 
  are approved by the BOG. The Maintainer may provide input back 
  the the Community if they see technical issues.
Manu Sporny:  This framework borrows from W3C and other internet 
  governance models.
Manu Sporny:  Nonprofit in place with bylways and D&O insurance. 
  etc...Build up the VOCG. We also need the technical network needs 
  to go into production.
Manu Sporny:  The testnet is already being used in several PoCs.
Manu Sporny:  We need to decide that when to hand the network 
  over to the Foundation. Currently Digital Bazaar has all of the 
  liability. We want to had the network over in good condition. 
  Once the handover happens the Board has control. We won't hand 
  the network over until the Board feels comfortable.
Anriette Esterhuysen: Questions for later: What day to day 
  operational capacity will the Foundation have once it has been 
  created? What will be the day to day responsibilities of the 
  board? What will be the liability of the board? How are 
  relationships with the community maintained? What is the 
  responsibility of the board in relation to the community? 
  How/when does the board interact with the advisors?
Anriette Esterhuysen: And thanks for being so respectful of our 
  time. Much appreciated.
Anja Kovacs: I think this makes all eminent sense.
Anriette Esterhuysen: Fine if you can't answer it all yet. We can 
  work it out together.
:)
Manu Sporny:  The primary burden of network operations will be on 
  the Maintainer of the Board continues to allow Digital Bazaar to 
  do so. Day-to-day operations are generally handled by the 
  Maintainer. The Board provides governance and guidance. For 
  example, the CG and the Board can set DID pricing and the 
  Maintainer has to implement that.
Anriette Esterhuysen: Thanks.. very clear
Manu Sporny:  The only time the Board has to be involved is 
  reviewing and approving/rejecting proposal that come out of the 
  CG. The CG  and the Maintainer handle the day-to-day.
Anriette Esterhuysen:  It would be good for the Board to track 
  the CG discussion. What is the best way to track the discussion.
Anriette Esterhuysen: Thanks Manu.
Anja Kovacs: So far the mailing list has not been so active yet? 
  Or am I not on the right mailing list?
Manu Sporny:  There is a mailing list and calls that are 
  recorded. This should cover all communication,
Anriette Esterhuysen: Same question from me as Anja's. I also did 
  join the list.
Anja Kovacs: Thanks for clarifying, Manu.
Manu Sporny: https://www.w3.org/community/veres-one/
Manu Sporny: 
  https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-veres-one/
Manu Sporny: To join the Veres One CG: 
  https://www.w3.org/community/wp-login.php?redirect_to=%2Fcommunity%2Fveres-one%2Fjoin
Mishi Choudhary: Can we have a  little more clarity about the 
  relationship between Digital Bazaar and Veres-one?
Adam Lake:  I want to reiterate what Manu said, the Board members 
  are more than welcome to participate in the Veres One Community 
  Group.
Manu Sporny:  Who is going to chair the VOCG is still unknown.
Manu Sporny:  Digital Bazaar is a for-profit company founded 17 
  years ago. We care very much about privacy. Veres One is an 
  attempt to give everyone on the planet can interact without one 
  another about privacy issues and censorship. We don't believe 
  that a DID ledger belongs in the hands of a for-profit.
Manu Sporny:  There are details around compensation for licensing 
  the software and maintaining the software that need to be worked 
  out.
Anriette Esterhuysen: Thanks so much for the update. Will you let 
  us know about the testnet release?
Charles Nevile: Thanks all.
Manu Sporny:  Thanks all for your time.
Anriette Esterhuysen: Great.. thanks.. keep well everyone.

Received on Friday, 12 July 2019 16:24:19 UTC