Verifiable Claims Working Group Charter

Scope

The Working Group will:

1. Recommend a data model and syntax(es) for the expression of verifiable claims, including one or more core vocabularies.
2. Create a note specifying one or more of
   1. how these data models should be used with existing attribute exchange protocols;
   2. a suggestion that existing protocols be modified;
   3. a suggestion that a new protocol is required.
3. Focus their efforts on the identified use cases with a particular focus on the education sector. As a secondary focus, the group may address use cases on digital offers, receipts, and loyalty programs; discussion of these topics is not exclusive to this Working Group. Use cases from other industries may be included if there is significant industry participation.

Out of Scope

The Working Group will not:

1. Define browser-based APIs for interacting with verifiable claims. This work may be performed by a future Working Group if there is interest, but is not required for the Working Group to be successful.
2. Define a new protocol for attribute exchange. This work may be performed by a future Working Group if there is interest, but is not required for the Working Group to be successful.
3. Attempt to lead the creation of a specific style of supporting infrastructure, other than a data model and syntax(es), for a verifiable claims ecosystem.
4. Attempt to address the larger problem of "Identity on the Web/Internet".

Success Criteria

The Working Group will fulfill the implementation experience required by the W3C Process as follows:

• The Working Group will develop test suites for Recommendation-track specifications.
• The group will seek evidence of independent interoperable uses of the vocabulary by at least two independent entities in the education sector. For example, academic qualifications (for a job application etc.).
• The group will undertake, in consultation with experts in security and privacy, a detailed analysis of threats to privacy, and techniques and practices for their mitigation.
• For any implementation cited to establish interoperability success, the Working Group will work with the Accessible Platform Architectures (APA) Working Group to help communicate accessibility issues to the developers.

Terminology

verifiable claim

A machine-readable statement made by an entity that is cryptographically authentic (non-repudiable).

credential (aka attestation)

A set of verifiable claims that refer to a qualification, achievement, personal quality, aspect of an identity such as a name, government ID, preferred payment processor, home address, or university degree typically used to indicate suitability.

Security and Privacy Considerations

In general, the issuers of verifiable claims want to ensure that their reputation is protected, the holders of verifiable claims want to ensure their data is protected, and the inspectors of verifiable claims want to be confident in their claims-based decisions. As a result, both security and privacy are critical for verifiable claims.

From a security perspective it is important that verifiable claims are protected from forgery and that interactions with verifiable claims are protected from bad actors at all stages of the lifecycle.

From a privacy perspective it is important that information that is intended to remain private is handled appropriately. Maintaining the trust of a verifiable claims ecosystem is important. Verifiable claims technology defined by this group should not disclose private details of the participants' identity or other sensitive information unless required for operational purposes, by legal or jurisdictional rules, or when deliberately consented to (e.g. as part of a request for information) by the holder of the information. The design of any data model and syntax(es) should guard against the unwanted leakage of such data.

The Working Group will work with the security and privacy organizations listed in the liaisons section of the charter to help ensure that both security and privacy are considered.

Internationalization and Accessibility Considerations

Verifiable claims are made throughout the world and are issued and used by a variety of organizations and people with varying languages and levels of disabilities. The technology developed by the working group must be able to express verifiable claims in a variety of languages and must be able to be used by people with a variety of disabilities.

The Working Group will work with the internationalization and accessibility organizations listed in the liaisons section of the charter to help ensure that both internationalization and accessibility are considered.