Action-2142: Review of Verifiable Claims Data Model and Representations

Following up on  <https://www.w3.org/WAI/APA/track/actions/2142> action
2142, I have looked at the
<https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/WD-verifiable-claims-data-model-20170803/>
Verifiable Claims Data Model and Representations draft 03 August 2017, and
documented my findings in the APA Wiki
<https://www.w3.org/WAI/APA/wiki/Verifiable_Claims_Data_Model_and_Representa
tions> .

 

Here is the result of my review:

 

The  <https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/WD-verifiable-claims-data-model-20170803/>
Verifiable Claims Data Model and Representations draft 03 August 2017 does
not contain any requirements or recommendations on the user interface, nor
does the related
<https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/NOTE-verifiable-claims-use-cases-20170608/>
Verifiable Claims Use Cases Note 08 June 2017. Therefore, there is no reason
for raising accessibility concerns.

On an internal discussion, I see two points worth considering here, but none
of them is critical enough to raise a flag.

1.    If verifiable claims contain information about a person's health
status of disability, this information needs to be protected on a highest
level for privacy and security. Note that privacy and security
considerations are already covered in sections 5 and 6 of the
<https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/WD-verifiable-claims-data-model-20170803/>
Verifiable Claims Data Model and Representations draft 03 August 2017.

2.    On a first sight, one could hope that the ecosystem for verifiable
claims could be also used for a controlled distribution of personal
preference profiles identifying user interface needs and preferences of
individual users. However, the ecosystem presented in
<https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/WD-verifiable-claims-data-model-20170803/>
Verifiable Claims Data Model and Representations draft 03 August 2017 is
informal (not normative), and does only contain components that help to
verify data - not to store and manage the data. For personal preference
profiles, the verification is usually not important - since the user does
not gain privileges over other users by claiming to need a a specific set of
preferences. There is one exception, though: If the user can get access to
electronic texts that would otherwise be protected by copyright - due to
their visual impairment. But this use case can be implemented by the
<https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/WD-verifiable-claims-data-model-20170803/>
Verifiable Claims Data Model and Representations draft 03 August 2017
without the need for a personal preference profile.

 

 

Best regards,

Gottfried 

 

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 Prof. Dr. Gottfried Zimmermann

Mobile User Interaction

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