IBM, Accenture, Mastercard and R3 Join ToIP Digital Identity Foundation

Earlier today (May 5th, 2020), the existence of the Trust Over IP (VoIP) Foundation was revealed in an official announcement, along with a list of its core partners and contributors.

This includes a large number of blue-chip, government, and other institutions such as Accenture, British Columbia, IBM Security, Mastercard, R3, and the University of Arkansas.

The launch is to be heralded with a digital launch event scheduled to take place on May 7, 2020, at 9AM (PDT) which includes a demonstration, Q&A and panel discussion. A second, dedicated event which targets the APAC region will take place at a later date.

“The internet and digital technologies are a critical part of the way we engage with each other and with organizations. Accenture has a deep commitment to developing solutions to build trust, protect privacy and put control of an individual’s data squarely in their hands.

The Trust over IP (ToIP) Foundation is bringing together a powerful mix of experts and doing it at the exact right time given the urgent need to encourage greater adoption and increase trust in data privacy and ownership,” - Christine Leong (Accenture: Managing Director; Global Lead, Decentralized Identity & Biometrics)

Trust Over IP (VoIP) Foundation focuses on digital identity and is led by the Linux Foundation and its purpose is to create a ‘global standard’ across industries and practices using the ‘W3C Verifiable Credentials’ standard for the management and protection of digital assets and data.

The Linux Foundation was founded in 2000 with the purpose of investing resources into “open source communities”. It is also one of the organisations behind the Hyperledger project, of which IBM and Microsoft are also members.

“The ToIP Foundation has the promise to provide the digital trust layer that was missing in the original design of the Internet and to trigger a new era of human possibility… The combination of open standards and protocols, pan-industry collaboration and our neutral governance structure will support this new category of digital identity and verifiable data exchange?.” - Jim Zemlin (Linux Foundation: Executive Director)

VoIP is a proponent of ‘cryptographically-verifiable digital credentials’ (removes the need for ‘intermediaries’  with regards to data verification), and additionally seeks to bridge the gap between cryptography and human administered ‘trust’.

At Present, the ToIP comprises four divisions: 

1. Governance Stack

2. Technical Stack

3. Utility Foundry

4. Ecosystem Foundry

The first of these groups (‘governance’ and ‘technical’) are named after the two halves which make up the ToIP technology stack. The teams in this group will focus on the development and deployment of these functions.

The other two groups (‘utility’ and ‘ecosystem’) act as “communities of practice” - where interested projects can collaborate in the creation of “development of ToIP utility networks or entire ToIP digital trust ecosystems.”

“The new Trust over IP Foundation marks an evolutionary step which goes beyond standards, specs and code, with the goal of creating a community-driven playbook for establishing ‘ecosystems of trust.’ IBM believes that the next wave of innovation in identity access management will be for credential issuers and verifiers to partake in these ecosystems, where trusted relationships are built upon cryptographic proofs.” - Dan Gisolfi (IBM Security: CTO, Decentralized Identity)