Open Identity Exchange (OIX) and DIACC commit to finding alignment for global policies on digital trust and verification.
UK, June 2024 – The global non-profit Open Identity Exchange (OIX) and the Canadian non-profit Digital ID Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) have committed to working together to advance global digital interoperability – a crucial element for trusted, successful international trade in a rapidly advancing digital global economy.
OIX is an influential global community for all those involved in the ID sector to connect and collaborate, developing the thought leadership and guidance needed to enable interoperable, trusted identities carried seamlessly from place to place in ‘roaming wallets’ for everyone. DIACC is an equally influential community of public and private sector leaders committed securing inclusive digital economy benefits by promoting user-centric design principles and verifying private sector services against the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF) to support a secure ecosystem of services to enable user-directed information verification between public and private sector data authorities.
The two organisations will explore how different country-based policies related to identity management, verification, security, data privacy innovation and approaches to digital identity assurance can be compared and analysed so that more rapid progress can be made towards global digital ID interoperability through alignment of policy or acceptance of policy differences.
The collaboration will focus on advancing methods for participants in one framework to accept identity verification and digital credentials verified through another trust framework based on a mixture of policy acceptance and technology adaption. DIACC and OIX will explore equivalency and interoperability processes, identify potential alignments, new standards required, and gaps that may need to be addressed, and highlight use cases that can be facilitated through interoperability across digital ecosystems. Within this work, they will explore methods to describe common features of jurisdictional and sectoral trust frameworks, and share insights widely available as a resource.
The exchange and transfer of knowledge and expertise will be at the heart of this collaboration. OIX and DIACC will work together to create ‘intellectual capital’ to shape debate and bring about actions, moving identity management, data privacy, and security forward at pace.
Nick Mothershaw, Chief Identity Strategist at OIX, said: “The benefits of the digital global economy will be vast, but there is still some way to go before everyone can confidently access them. Our collaboration with DIACC will play a critical role. The fantastic progress DIACC has already made across Canada is an exemplar for global interoperability and will provide much needed insight, tools and guidance to pave a much clearer way forward globally.
“Our plans are to share our work with other trust frameworks across the globe, by publishing the criteria and values, and in the short-term creating an interim tool for trust frameworks to use for policy areas. We also want to secure their input on what they want to see in Trust Framework Comparison tool, as well as to start demonstrating how a roaming wallet will work.”
Joni Brennan, DIACC President, said: “We’re thrilled to collaborate with the Open Identity Exchange. The formalization of our liaison demonstrates progress in supporting our shared values to advance secure, user-centric digital identity solutions globally. Our collaboration will leverage each organization’s expertise to explore opportunities to foster innovation, enhance interoperability, and build public trust in digital services by identifying the alignments and gaps between jurisdictional and sectoral trust frameworks.”
For more information, please contact Serj Hallam at communications@openidentityexchange.org
About The Open Identity Exchange (OIX)
The OIX is a non-profit trade organisation on a mission to create a world where everyone can prove their identity and eligibility anywhere through a universally trusted ID. OIX is a community for all those involved in the ID sector to connect and collaborate, developing the guidance needed for inter-operable, trusted identities. Through our definition of, and education on Trust Frameworks, we create the rules, tools and confidence that will allow every individual a trusted, universally accepted, identity.
About The Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC)
The Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) is a not-for-profit corporation of Canada that benefits from membership of public and private sector leaders committed to developing a trust framework to enable Canada’s full and secure participation in the global digital economy. DIACC’s objective is to unlock economic opportunities for consumers and businesses by providing the framework to develop a robust, secure, scalable and privacy-enhancing digital identification and authentication ecosystem that will decrease costs for governments, consumers, and businesses while improving service delivery and driving GDP growth.