ISED, EU, on a mission to tame “wild west” of digital identification technologies

The federal government is working with the European Commission to examine the political and technological landscape for digital credentials -- individual or organizational identities, licences, permits, certifications, or educational qualifications -- in an attempt to bring order to a “wild west atmosphere” in the space. Monday, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) released a report on the technical and policy workshops held with the European Commission's DG Connect in spring and summer 2021, which noted that the different self-sovereign identity (technology that allows users, instead of third-parties, to manage their digital identities in a decentralized manner) and digital credential technologies already in use in the two jurisdictions are not interoperable with one another. “As larger platform players move into the digital wallet and identity space, there is a risk that they could dominate the market and have an outsized influence on the standards. There is a need to establish an approach that balances the accommodation of consumer choice and healthy marketplaces with the mitigation of potential harm of private sector control of personal data and privacy,” the report reads. In addition to enabling baseline compatibility and trust standards with digital wallets, the two government bodies also want to develop internationally recognized standards and best practices, such as the Verifiable Credential Data Model -- a cryptographically secure way to show credentials on the web that is machine verifiable-- and decentralized identifiers (DIDs) which identify any subject independent of a centralized registry, provider, or certificate authority. The report also recommends they comply with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) test suites, and adopt an approach that is both ledger and feature-agnostic to prevent vendor lock-in. The report said vendor lock-in -- dependence on a specific vendor for service without the ability to switch without excessive costs and effort -- is a risk that can be mitigated by interoperability as well as ecosystem fragmentation, an issue which governments are currently seeing as each develops different standards for travel, educational and COVID credentials. “While a healthy and diverse ecosystem of actors and initiatives is positive, the challenge comes in how to mitigate siloed approaches to ensure mutual recognition, scalability, and adoption beyond a specific context. There is a need to look at how to navigate a lack of control over these various ecosystems,” the report reads. ISED noted in the report that Canada invited the EU to participate in the development of its Nation Technical Specifications for Canada for digital credentials and digital trust services, and further recommended that the EU include Canada on their list of third parties to engage with on the development of their own specifications and standards, once Canada's update to its privacy legislation is complete. "There is an alignment of both jurisdictions on privacy approaches, including, for example, control and consent, transparency, portability and interoperability... With the coming updates to Canada's privacy legislation, the status of Canada as a country presenting an adequate level of protection for personal data transfers from the EU may need to be reviewed," the report reads. ISED said this new partnership will align with the principles of Canada's Digital Charter launched in June 2019. -- Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

ISED, EU, on a mission to tame “wild west” of digital identification technologies

News | November 22, 2021

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ISED, EU, on a mission to tame “wild west” of digital identification technologies

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